Welcome Shelby!!

Dan's cousin had a little girl today named Shelby!!

Orange Scarf Post

There is a great little yarn store in Eugene called Soft Horizons. It is full of the most magnificent yarns anyone could hope for.
I finished this scarf that I had been working on for a surprisingly long time. The whole scarf is done in seed stitch, which is my most favorite knitting pattern to date. Its edged with Debbie Bliss alpaca silk. Unfortunately, that beautiful orange color that I used for the majority of the scarf was two skeins of organic cotton that I don't have info on.

Tucker's Present from Grandma

Tucker got a big raw hide bone for Christmas from Grandma. I made him eat it on one specific dog pillow in the living room.
When he thought I wasn't looking, he would try and sneak off with it. His mission for the evening was to get that bone into a private area where he could be alone with it. We watched The Dark Knight, and by the end of the movie only half of the bone remained. I am still not entirely sure if he actually ate the entire half, or if he was able to find a spot in the house to hide it for later. Only Tucker knows the truth, and he's not talking.

Merry Christmas!

Well, here we are, on a beautiful Christmas Morning, and as you can see, Gabe made it safely into town. Gabe and Dan went to take his rental car back to the Airport. Tucker and I are sitting in front of the Electric Fire, and sipping coffee waiting for the boys to get back.

When the boys get home, we are headed over to Dad's house for the Annual Christmas-Present-Opening-Fiasco. Last year there were almost more dogs than people, and more wrapping paper than house by the end. Its always a fun paper tearing, present comparing event. This will be Gabe's first experience, and I am looking forward to the look on his face (usually a combination of fear, disgust, intrigue, and hysterical elation).

Sources of Inspiration

I am awed and amazed by this.

Wednesday's Wicked Winter Wonderland

Over the past few days D and I have been agonizing over whether his brother will be able to fly into Portland as he had planned for his much anticipated holiday visit. Under normal December weather conditions, picking up a passenger at PDX is hardly an issue at all, but this year things are a little different. Portland as gotten more snow than anyone Many weekend planes were grounded and hundreds of people have been stranded. Another snow dumping is expected this morning, so at this point only time will tell as to whether or not he will be able to get here. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping for clear and safe flying/driving conditions!
(There are amazing pictures of the city posted here.)

Taking Lazing About to a Whole New Level

As you can see, T is extremely good at chillin'. This is taken at the time of night when he finds a spot and curls up into a tiny little doughnut and becomes the Sweetest Pooch on Earth. Most nights.

Cecil Jones Thinks Out Loud

I have had a number of nicknames in my lifetime. When I was a kid all my friends called me CC or Seaweed (often the d is lost, making it more of a Sea-weeeee).
About 3 years ago I met Jill, who gradually turned CC into Seese and finally into the very dignified, if not downright masculine, Cecil Jones.
Normally I don't think much about my various nicknames, but tonight I started entertaining the idea of new blog titles. Ideas that came to my mind were Seaweed Stinks and Cecil Jones Thinks Out Loud. I'm leaning toward the latter.

Recent Music Shows

What Made Milwaukee Famous Lead Singer and I outside of Emo's in Austin September 2008.

Bob Schneider at Antone's in Austin, September 2008.

Cookie inspiration

Inspired by this post by Ms. Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, I decided that Raspberry Thumbprints were a necessary Wednesday baking project. I found this recipe from Cooks.com, and went to work:

THUMB PRINT COOKIE

1/2 c. soft butter 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg yolk 1 c. sifted flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. vanilla

First I took room temperature butter and creamed it in my wonderful Tangerine KitchenAid with the brown sugar until fluffy, then I added the egg yolk and vanilla. Flour and salt were sifted together and added at the end. The fun part is rolling teaspoon sized balls of dough in sugar and then plunging chocolate bar pieces in the centers. I baked these at 350 degrees for about 10-11 minutes. Its the simplest recipe, but here's how things came out:
Deee-lish!

Not So Secret Santa Strikes

Every year Christmas comes around and I am the scrooge at my office. I decided that this year I would make up for my past scroogery, so I borrowed an idea from The Office (see below), and exercised my own black belt in gift wrapping. Not as good as Jim's, but I heard the reaction was comedy. And I can just imagine him trying to explain the situation to clients throughout the afternoon...

Inspiration for Next Year's Decorating Ideas

this year's tree
Originally uploaded by ATLITW

Dan and I woke up this morning to Day 2 of Winter Snow Fest 2008. Luckily, he had cancelled all the jobs for today, meaning he could sleep in a bit instead of grump-0-saurus-ing all over the house before 7 am like usual when it snows here. Instead, we slept in until 9:30, drank not one but two pots of coffee, and then bundled up for a walk around our neighborhood with the pooch. It was freezing. We lasted all of about 20 minutes before we headed back with red and runny noses and cold ears.
Tucker can't seem to get enough of the white powder, and Dan and I feel that it may be appropriate in the future to look more seriously into a dog rehab situation if he truly is not able to kick the stuff on his own.I know, he looks innocent enough here, but we are honestly concerned. Last night he stayed outside (despite our repeated attempts to bring him in) until he had ice packed into his feet and shivered uncontrollably. If he isn't able to prioritize his own health above the powder, we're definitely going to have to intervene. Hopefully Mother Nature will help a bit in this endeavor. Only time will tell.
I made us a hearty breakfast of Scotch Eggs, which are hard boiled eggs wrapped in sausage and baked. We had them for the first time while visiting Becky and Tom a couple of years ago. Truly a hardcore protein breakfast, perfect for a day in the snow. After our breakfast, we puttered around the house warming up and continuing to drink coffee, until we found ourselves so wired that we had to leave. I headed to Mom's for a good day of daytime television, and Dan headed to work to tie up loose ends before the Holidays. We drove into town together and marvelled at all the people we saw braving the icy roads to make that oh-so-neccessary trip to Pier 1, or TJ Maxx. Why don't people just stay home? Of course we couldn't help but realize the irony of making fun of them while driving around ourselves. At least we're aware...

Because sometimes a girl just needs a new blog

That's right, this is my 3rd attempt at maintaining a blog. I entered into the blogging world with Thread and Scissors, a wee blog I loved. After that, I started Satiated Designs, a craft blog aimed at promoting my own crafty creations. A year later, I decided that blogging was always primarily about my own inspiration. This new blog is going to be primarily focused on creating a space that honors my creativity, my family, and the ideas that feed me. So who am I? I am a 29 year old nursing student and I live in Oregon with my husband, one dog, and one cat. My favorite things are my husband giggling, my dog barking in his sleep, the cat ignoring me while sitting on my husband with a look like "things were better when it was just me and you, why did you let this woman and this dog move in?", embroidering everything, sewing, knitting scarves, daydreaming about life and crafting, writing, reading magazines and easy reading books (i don't like anything too complex), cruising the internet for an embarrassing number of hours at a time, watching daytime television whenever possible (because what else really reminds you that you are not at work when the rest of the world is?), and napping. I love good food, I hate grating cheese, and I am so ADHD that I tend to interrupt on the first word out of another person's mouth, but I'm working on it. Enjoy!