It's Not the Oven or the Heat

Sweater: UO * Pants: Old Navy * Scarf: Christmas gift * Boots: Target * Belt: thrifted

I almost wrote an entire post about some various attitude problems I've been having lately (internal attitude problems, not plate-throwing, temper-losing attitude problems). I wanted to talk about what I've been struggling with, and think about ways to address and mediate those issues. And that's fine. Really. That would be a fine post to write, and I'll probably still write it sometime. However, this morning, I'd really rather not dwell on the negative. Because if there's anything that makes my attitude problem worse, it's being self-indulgent about it. So I'll think, and write about it later, when I can talk about it with more distance and objectivity. (Also, please note that things are, in large part, really great. This is just a small hiccup in the way that I deal with things, and something that I know I have to work on. Don't worry!)

So, to focus on things that make my world go 'round, let's talk about bread. You heard me. I've been exploring the world of bread-baking in the past few months. I have a few phenomenal cookbooks now, and have started recently to branch out beyond the super-easy beer bread and standard loaf breads. I made a killer ciabatta bread over Christmas break. Ciabatta is really good. I think that bread made my parents, and Joe, love me a little bit more. So I'm determined to keep rolling on this train of yeasty goodness. Enter the sourdough starter.

Ha! That last picture was me trying to capture my foggy cold-weather breath on film. Joe snapped the picture at the right moment, but I think my camera is a bit too rudimentary to catch misty air.

For the past 5-6 days, I've been "feeding" a pretty unpleasant-looking gray goo in a glass jar in our kitchen. It has started to smell very yeasty and not unlike apple cider, on some days, and is bubbly and active. Starters (this one is called a liquid levain in my fancy bread cookbook, which I want to sleep with because it introduced me to the ciabatta and must be magical) are used in a ton of breads, and in all of my favorites. A good baguette starts with a levain, as does sourdough (of course), and pretty much any bread with a thick, wonderful crust and an airy, light inside. I think my starter will be ready to use tomorrow or Thursday, and I think I'm going to give it its test run with a buckwheat batard (I've been getting buckwheat, rye, and whole wheat flour in bulk from the local Co-op where Joe lives, and it has made this hobby infinitely cheaper, and more interesting).

Are any of you novice (or professional?) bread-makers? Any tips for a newbie like me? Any cookbook or recipe suggestions are welcome, as well as must-have tools and appliances (I'm getting very close to justifying the purchase of a stand mixer, since a lot of the bread doughs are too moist to knead by hand).

I know this is a sort of weird, very disjointed post, in which I do not talk about my outfit at all (let's be honest, its awesomeness speaks for itself). How do you guys feel about posts like this? Honestly, they're my favorites, since they're most representative of what goes on in my little brain early in the morning. Of course, there are those posts where everything truly comes together, and the words and reflections connect with the pictures and the sentiments, but not every day can be that serendipitous. So today we get a mustard scarf, an attitude adjustment, and yeast.

Title song: Johnny Cash, "Breaking Bread"

There's Nobody Here

Sweater: Target * Jeans: Gap * Boots: Target * Scarf: handmade * Headband: Anthropologie * Ring: Christmas present

So sometimes, just sometimes, I get way behind in posting pictures. I didn't take these today. I didn't take them this weekend. I didn't even take them last week. These are from a few weeks ago, when Joe and I were spending the weekend at his place, and it was a perfect, snowy, winter wonderland. The snow was so much deeper than I had thought it was, and I got tons of snow in my shoes and everywhere. It took everything in my power to not just dive into the drifts and get totally coated. I resisted only because it was also effing cold.

It's Monday, so I'll try to spare you from a wordy, photo-heavy post, full of THOUGHTS. Because honestly, I'm not sure I have it in me this morning, either. We should, however, take a moment to celebrate this sweater, which I bought for $3.74 at Target. In the little girls' section. It's so badass. Badass enough that I wanted to have my "movie star makeup" on when I wore it. (Just so we're clear, "movie star makeup" equals lipstick. That's it. Winged eyeliner too, if I'm feeling really sassy.)

How was your weekend? Mine was a weird roller coaster of productivity, laziness, outings and staying in. I got a few things done that really needed to get done (put all the summer dresses still hanging in my closet into storage for the winter, for example), got some delightfully indulgent TV and movie-watching in (Rent, the Tudors, and my mandatory bi-annual viewing of all of Eddie Izzard's stand-up), had the best breakfast in the history of ever (steel cut oats with cream and currants...mmmm...), had a fun Whole Food/Unique thrift outing with the roomies (got loads of bulk goodness at WF, and fabulous thrifted jars to put it all in at Unique!), busted out a few minor coding skills to add those flashy sidebar links over there (see? --->), met a girl who went to school in my hometown and knew loads of the same peeps that I do (my best friend since forever, my dad, you know, no biggie), and had a lovely dinner and post-dinner dance party with the roomies and extended roomies last night. With all that fun, though, I'm dragging just a tad this morning. It might be a two-cup-of-coffee kind of day.

Title song: Chris DeBurgh, "Lady in Red"

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Saturday I found the artwork of Sandrine Estrade Boulet on the web. I'm a big fan already.
Here is her site. Have a good look around. She has a blog also, if you care to follow it. Her
work is about amusing herself and hopefully you too. We have something in common like that.

Ain't This a Cryin' Shame

It's really cold in Chicago today. The kind of cold where I would have gotten frostbite in my normal 25 minute walk to work (don't worry, I'll take the bus). A few weekends ago, while I was visiting Joe, we made a little gif to show you my winter wear. Today seems as good a day as any to share the ridiculousness. Maybe I can stay warm on my walk to work if I do a little jig most of the way...

p.s. TGIF, suckas! (Also, for those of you who miss my witty presence on Twitter, Emily has taken to occasionally tweeting my random comments - about things that I find, people looking dumb, and calling everything "bitches", so far - hey, there's a reason I left, alright?) Anyway, stay warm this weekend. Oh, and GO BEARS!

p.p.s. I just installed Disqus comments on the blog last night. They seem to be working fine so far, but please email me if you're having any problems with them!

Title song: Muddy Waters, "Nine Below Zero"

SHOWCASE IRELAND EXPO

Gals

Blog posts have been very slim on the ground this week but with good reason. :)

We have been very busy prepping for our upcoming visit to SHOWCASE Ireland 2011. SHOWCASE is Ireland's largest craft expo and we are heading to exhibit at this year's fair in the RDS, Dublin.

It will be our first time exhibiting at a Trade fair as opposed to simply perusing the aisles.So we had a lot of work to get through this week to be show ready!

As well as that we have been making the transition from our current home studio to our first ever public studio/retail location. More about that move very soon. :)

Looking forward to SHOWCASE, and looking forward to a night sleep soon too. lol

www.showcaseireland.com

SHOWCASE

"Ireland's Creative Expo"

January 23rd-26th 2011

RDS,Dublin

Far Below the Flashy Ceiling Sky

Shirt: Gap * Jacket: thrifted * Black motorcycle jeans: Gap * Boots: Target

Sometimes, when you're sick, you take your outfit pictures inside. Against a white wall, with an ugly lamp. Because your boyfriend made you. I'm a pretty good patient when I'm sick, I think, but sometimes I get stubborn. On Friday, I thought it was a really great idea to go outside and take my pictures in the wintry snow. I thought I looked downright badass, and knew that that shit had to be documented. Joe put his foot down and made me stay indoors. He was just looking out for me, I suppose, but these pictures do not thrill me. Aside from my purty face and the Chicago Public Library print, there ain't nothin' goin' on in these pictures.

Wait, yes there is something going on! I'd like to take a moment to talk about my hair. As you know, it is short. What you may not know is that I'm slowly, and patiently (though my hairdresser would beg to differ, seeing as I have multiple times threatened to shave my own head, and have once followed through with a buzz cut, which she spent months trying to fix), trying to grow it out. I've never been able to grow out the pixie cut in a less-than-horrendously-awkward way, so I'm trying to do it as slowly, intentionally, and fashionably as possible. It's more a test of character than a real desire to have long hair again. But! Good news! It's working.

Das braid.

It is now long enough for me to create the Frankenstein's monster of french braids in the front. Yes, I'm aware that the braid only goes about three inches, and it's really more a smashing down of hairs than a proper braid, but all great experiments need initial horrible failures to get to that Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize for Excellence in Hair-Growing-Out Patience. The braid stayed in all day, so I think I'm well on my way. I do wish I had taken a picture when it came out, since the resulting hair swoop put the members of Flock of Seagulls to shame. Maybe next time.

Any tips for me as I grow out my locks? Care to share examples of great curly-hair hairstyles as it grows out? Any tips on how to avoid the allure of the buzzer?

Title song: Matt Pond PA, "Our Braided Lives"

You're Surprised to Find Only Me

Striped sweater: Gap, thrifted * Shorts: Gap jeans, thrifted, DIY * Tights: Hue * Socks: American Apparel * Boots: Target * Yellow scarf: Christmas present from roomie * Gray scarf: c/o Affordable Scarves

I think I may have been inspired by Kyla this weekend. Between the maxi skirt and jean shorts, styled for winter, I've been seriously channeling my inner Blue Collar Catwalk. And I like it! This outfit is one of my favorite winter weekend outfits, partly because it feels so casual and thrown together, yet totally cozy. And I love how these pictures turned out, too. It was so gray out when I was taking them, and I feel like I am almost absorbed into the wintry January palette.

One thing that I do now, everyday, to keep my life in order and my head more clear, is clean my room. I used to be (up until this July, quite literally) the kind of person with crap strewn everywhere. I consistently had piles of both clean and dirty clothes somewhere in my room (let's be honest, they were almost always on the floor), and I don't think I ever made my bed, except for when I put clean sheets on it. It wasn't really for lack of wanting to be clean. I'm just type A enough that organization simply thrills me, but there has always been something about my room that beckons me to chaos. However, since moving in July, I have found myself with a much smaller space. Were I to leave it in the state that I've left my bedrooms in the past, I have the distinct feeling that the disorder would gnaw at me, and make me feel not at home in the very place I should feel most comfortable. So now I make my bed, every morning. Everything has a place, and I make sure that it gets there. I never go to bed without the closet door and all the dresser drawers closed, and shoes are allowed nowhere but the shoe rack. It's a bit of a change, but it helps.

I'm a firm believer in weird little organizational things like that. It gives control and focus to one part of life. And, for me, while a clean bedroom has little to no impact on my daily life and routine, a messy one can throw a wrench in the day, from sabotaging outfit choices to putting my mind in a decidedly disheveled state. Granted, I'm also one of those people that needs the volume on any device to be set at an even number or multiple of 5, so my opinions on this topic may be skewed. Nonetheless, it makes a difference. It's hard to tackle the big, or little, hurdles of the day if I've started off feeling unbalanced. It's easier for me to prioritize, set goals, and feel motivated, creative, and in control, if I've taken the time to clean and control my space. I don't know, though. Maybe I should learn to let go...

Do any of you clean your rooms or make your bed everyday? Why? Why not? (Yes, I just wrote a whole post about cleaning my bedroom. What can I say? It's Wednesday.)

Title song: Neko Case, "Make Your Bed"