Life and Olive the Above

So it seems that when the weather gets cold both Steve and I have our minds adrift with projects, some get it in the spring, we however, get it in the winter as we get snowed into the house. We also contemplate moving around this time every year.

As of late I’ve been hooked on the Apartment Therapy Blogs and they always have so many great ideas floating about that I can hardly keep them all straight. Without the luxury of a workshop to create all the items we dream about it’s more of a collection season, sending out emails to family members to keep on the lookout for good tree clippings and other scrap woods so we can eventually make a trip to Vancouver Island where we’ll create to our hearts content.

For the couple years (maybe even longer as I try and estimate the birth of this idea) I’ve been wanting to use a few lean tree trunks to create some great west coast lamps and using a few offcuts from trees in my family’s yard to create hooks for the house such as these ones found on the apartment therapy blogs.

Yesterday evening marked an evening where we brought out old canvases and began painting over them in hopes of creating a new feel for our cozy little basement suite. We’re starting to notice that the colour of the living room walls just doesn’t classify as art and it’s looking a bit bare so hopefully February will mark a month where our house begins to look more like a home. We also continue to go through the house trying to purge any unnecessary items so that we can live a more streamlined life so we’ll spend less time de-cluttering when guests come to visit!

It’s still just the first week of three months without a job. It’s strange how in this process I come to realize how much I placed my worth in how well I could manage on my own, making my own money, and although not making a lot, I brought something home at the end of the day and it brings it own ideas about where we are in the world. For me, it’s quite easy knowing who I am in the work force, I work hard, I’m dedicated and I can lead but now I’m forced to figure out who I really am, who I am when I don’t have a job and I can’t provide for myself. This dependance is foreign, sure we grow up this way but once we’ve been doing it ourselves for this long, it’s difficult to feel it’s “okay”.

Since Thursday however, I have managed to tackle a sewing project that I wanted to try, but to be plain, I never really thought I could pull it off very well. I proved myself wrong when at long last I replaced my favourite hoodie, not by buying a new one, nor by replacing the zipper, but by making a whole new one from scratch, with jus the details I’d wanted, long, cozy, aubergine purple and with a high zippered neck to keep me warm.

Voila! I did it, and it doesn’t exactly look homemade, needless to say, I’ve been thrilled with how it turned out, and how cozy it is…. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t worn it every day since I made it (if not the whole day, at least in part). Also during the holidays I made myself a new bag, and all who know me know I just love accessories and I couldn’t resist to make this gem of a bag.

Hopefully it’s a sign of my creative self crawling back out of hibernation and many things will follow, if only I can figure out how to pay for it!

In other news I’m trying to keep things up with Etsy, trying to keep my shop full and stocked (thought I’m still far from it) and hopefully that will help me to keep myself afloat for awhile while I head back to school*.

*Today was my first day back in class and to my delight I actually got into every class that I wanted in the schedule that I wanted despite being waitlisted for 2/3 of them.

In the spirit of the holidays I found myself utterly wrapped up in becoming the next Suzy-Homemaker of 2007 (now into ‘08). Having sent in my letter of resignation for my current job and with only two days left ‘officially’ employed by any kind of company with a payroll system. I couldn’t help but be entirely giddy at the posibilities of what to do with my time!

Today I spent some time looking at the Kitchn Blog by Apartment Therapy. I always appreciated their home decor but it wasn’t until this morning I realized that they had a cooking section and since that’s been one of my latest endeavours, it was inevitable that I’d have to try something.

So this afternoon, while Holly was over and we sipped our coffee, which we flavoured with eggnog in place of cream, and we went to work making my own recipe of pumpkin applesauce muffins while I prepared their recipe for a quicker version of the New York Times No Kneed Bread. Currently it’s baking in my La Creuset Multifunction Pan.

Here’s the finished product

Also in the works I’m trying their recipe for Earl Grey Shortbread cookies but they’re in the freezer awaiting the next guest (could it be Alyssa? I don’t know.) I’ll be sure to take photos once I make them.

On the agenda tomorrow, Duke of Earl Soap, inspired by the cookies and then off to my second to last day of work!

Who said life wasn’t good?