Christmas Cards

For a while there it seemed doubtful, but I do finally have most of our* (very late) Christmas cards mailed out. There are two or three yet unclaimed, so if you'd like one, send me your address and I'll make it happen! If I sent you a card last year, you're on this year's list.

As is traditional, here is last year's card, with which I was particularly pleased (click to see the larger version):

In the great trajectory of my cards getting weirder and more obscure, this one marked a new high point.  I found the image below as I was searching for the card to post; the reference is Mucha's Princess Hyacinth:



Here are cards from:

• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007

*Yes, our! My bicycle only makes an appearance in the postage stamps, but David and the kitties are in this one. Eeps!

Halloween

So this was my Halloween costume this year! Hopefully I'll come across a full-length shot that includes my black and white checked pants, striped socks, and boots, but for now this will have to suffice.

I made the hat from a cereal box, covered in upside-down pleather from from last year's costume and decorated with, among other things, feathers from 2008's flapper costume. The shirt was also from the Prince costume, and worked perfectly.

David told me he'd overheard someone who didn't know me well ask, "Who's the Hatter?" I was indignant that someone wouldn't recognize my character--until David pointed out that the person recognized the character easily, but didn't know me. After the past few years' somewhat obscure costumes, it was fun to be such an easily recognized character.

David was Captain Awesome. His costume was primarily the result of all the flattened packing boxes currently littering our new place (another story for another time) and was a master of cardboard engineering.

Cheers.

Late

It's odd to me that when I'm the only one in the house, it takes me longer to get to bed. You'd think that with fewer distractions, I'd be in bed earlier, but it never seems to work that way.

Tonight I went to dinner and a movie* with a friend, and then we yakked for close to an hour while we were parked at the curb outside my house. Then I needed to finish hemming the skirt I made this weekend(!) and want to wear tomorrow, and that took quite a while.

Tomorrow evening I teach, but I also need to run several errands before I leave town early Wednesday. That flight is at 6 a.m., which doesn't give me much time at all between when I get home from teaching and when I leave for the airport the next morning. Since I plan to spend as much of that time as possible sleeping, I have a very full day ahead of me tomorrow.

So! Off to bed.

*I may say which one later

Cake Pops

In response to my last post, Mari asked about my recipe for cake pops, so I thought I'd give a quick rundown.

Hastily decorated party cake pops

Bakerella's basic formula is super simple: bake a cake, crumble it up, mash in frosting, form into balls, insert sticks and dip into candy. I think this is her most detailed tutorial.

The first time I tried this, I made several mistakes:

1. I bought some Fancy Deluxe Super Moist cake mix that called for something like half a cup of oil; even though I didn't add that much, the cake was still kind of greasy--probably fine for regular eating, but not great for cake pops. The second time, I bought a cheap store brand cake. Much better!
2. I used Wilton's white candy melts, which had a dreadful, hypersweet cheap candy flavor. The second time around, I used their chocolate ones, which were far better; they tasted like candy I would actually want to eat.
3. I used homemade cream cheese frosting at nearly full strength sweetness. Paired with the white candy shell, that was way too sweet. The second time around, I whipped the frosting left over from my first attempt--maybe a cup?--with another block of Neufchatel and some more vanilla. That made for a less sweet frosting and a far tastier pop.
4.  I didn't let the balls chill sufficiently before dipping them, and this is probably the most important thing. If they're not nice and cold--the second time, mine were pretty much frozen--the candy coating won't stick well. I had mine in the freezer for probably at least an hour before dipping them, and I wouldn't go with any less than that.

The second time, thanks to the knowledge gained from my first failure, things went much better. The pops actually tasted good--rich, more like dense brownies or even truffles, but good--and were superfun to eat. I wish I'd had a bit more time to decorate them; as it was, after all that fussiness, I was really pressed for time, and ended up slapping on some extra cream cheese frosting piped from a Zip-lock bag. I think I did all 31 (I think that's the number I ended up with, unintentionally!) in about four minutes.

They were a fair amount of work, but a big hit--so festive! I'd love to give them another try sometime, and do fun decorations. There is lots more inspiration over at Bakerella; check it out!

Golden

August 31st was my golden birthday, so I threw myself a party. I'd been wanting to have a party on the lawn of this house pretty much since we moved in; I may actually have been scheming about it even before the snow melted.

When August finally rolled around, I sent out invitations on sparkly gold paper left over from our moving announcements. I discovered cake pops and was inspired to make other foods on sticks: caprese salad skewers with garden cherry tomatoes, garden basil, and fresh mozzarella pearls; Greek salad skewers with garden cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, and feta; and fruit skewers with pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. In the non-stick category, we had Martha's carrot-ginger mini-cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting; hummus with pita and crudités; and sparkling cocktails.

I set everything up on cream and gold tablecloths I'd found at the thrift store, with little gold napkins. We had golden balloons, candles in ornamented jars and lots of hanging lights--strands of regular mini white lights, some tiny Japanese paper lanterns, and even a random strand of spiky Ikea lights.

But! They don't call my Kitchen a Disaster for nothing. I spent all morning and afternoon cooking, baking, and running last minute errands, and David and our downstairs neighbor did yeomen's duty getting lights strung, and still things were crazy until right up to party time. Our other neighbor came up to lend me a hand with frosting cupcakes, and then they both did skewer duty. At one point, all four of us were in the kitchen when we heard a crash; investigation revealed that Brrrrrruno had managed to knock over a tray of cupcakes and consume at least one, liner and all, before we were able to separate them!**

At 15 minutes before the time listed on the invitations, I left my tireless helpers in the kitchen to throw on some make up and my party dress. I was still making little labels for the food and drinks tables when the first guests showed up! So. I don't have many pictures at all, which makes me very sad, because it was such a beautiful party.

It really was. The little lights made everything feel remarkably festive. It was a lovely evening, and the rather brisk breeze was countered by a roaring fire in the fire pit. There were girls in party dresses*** and tasty treats and lovely music, thanks to an iPod Hi-Fi boombox we found at the thrift store for $19 (2006 retail price $349. Oh yeah!).

Anyway, here are the pictures I do have. Try to imagine everything golden and sparkly, the way it is in my memory!































*Which I had to make twice, because the first batch tasted and looked pretty bad
**For weeks afterward when he would come up to our apartment, he would lick the floor and rug at the site of the crash.
***I wore my dress from a few Halloweens ago; how many chances does a girl have to wear a dress like that, anyway?

The Royal We

Primping before going out.

This year for Halloween, David and I went as a royal couple: we were Prince and Princess Leia.

I had wanted to be Prince since last November or so, when we watched Purple Rain for the first time and I was seized with inspiration.

Getting into character. (See my eye pencil side burns?)

My hair was even more Prince-ly then, and he wears pretty amazing eyeliner, so I thought it would be perfect. David came up with the Princess Leia counterpart.

I was able to find almost all the ingredients for my costume at our local St. Vinny's: studded pleather pants, a giant purple men's blazer, and gauzy ruffled curtains.

Raw materials: pleather pants, curtains, and a purple suit coat.

I bought silver pyramid studs at StudsandSpikes.com (no joke!) and "shooties" (this is a thing?) at Target.

I ended up putting in a pretty ridiculous amount of work on the costume. The pants were the easiest part: two quick seams up the legs to make them skinny. The shirt was more involved; I attached the ruffle to the collar of a short-sleeved white button down, built up a tall neck, made sleeves with more ruffles at the wrists, and even sewed on pearly buttons.

The giant blazer in its original state.

The jacket, though, was definitely the hardest. I thought I could get away with quick seams up the sides and down the sleeves, but that looked funny, so I ended up taking off the sleeves, shortening the shoulders, and reattaching them.

Mid-destruction

I even tacked part of the lining (which I'd had to take out first thing to access the structural seams) back in. It was good sewing practice but not something I'd readily take on again anytime soon.

I started out by actually studding these, then ended up borrowing my neighbor's hot glue gun and attaching them that way.

The results, though? Totally worth it.

David and his cinnamon buns.

David suggested that maybe instead of Princess Leia, he should just go as a ghost.

Oh! I also sewed David's costume, from this amazingly helpful tutorial. I did the hood and everything. Also crazy. The buns he found online.

Exhausted but still fierce after the party.

California

Well hello there, abandoned blog. I've lost track of all the things I've intended to post about here, but among them are:

• Trip to California last weekend
• My sister's visit the week before that
• Trip to Hawaii before that
• The garden! (/squirrel salad bar)
  
• M's wedding (on a BOAT)
• And even my new pillow shams

So. Here are a few of the California pictures!

Throwing pottery on the back porch

The brothers relaxing

Siblings in the back seat

El Burrito!

David & me at graduation

Becca at graduation

The siblings after graduation

Martin in his dashing ascot

The graduates

Becca and Hoosteen graduated from dental school, and it was very inspiring. Very inspiring to finish my own doctorate, that is, and to have my family come for a big party! It's time to get this dissertation done.

Giveaways!

Erin has extended the deadline on her giveaway to FRIDAY, so go enter! Even if you don't know her, who doesn't love beautiful handmade gifts, mailed right to your door? You have nothing to lose. Do it.

In related news, there is currently another giveaway underway on Ashley's immensely charming blog! The prize on this one is a bustle skirt by Miss Becca, proprietress of Bunny & Pear Clothing on Etsy. Becca is really an amazing and creative seamstress, and although I would love that skirt, I won't hate you if you win it instead of me, because both it and she are awesome. Go therefore and enter.

Gifts

**Update: Erin is running a giveaway right now! Go here to leave a comment by noon FRIDAY and be entered in the drawing to win!**

Guys! I won a drawing over at Good Morning Grumpy, which you should obviously check out if you haven't. These are the lovely handmade goods the talented Miss Erin (whose prowess you may remember from earlier) sent:

A pillow sham that matches my living room perfectly

Adorable floral-themed magnets in a little tin

I didn't have any pillows lying around, but I was pretty proud of myself for buying a pillowcase at Savers for $0.99 and turning it into an (albeit slightly asymmetrical and lumpy) throw pillow in about 10 minutes with two quick seams and the last of the leftover dummy stuffing. I seriously love the sham. She has more for sale over at her Etsy store!

Should I do a craft giveaway here at the Kitchen? I probably should, since I love it so much when other people do them. But, then, there are so many other things I should also probably do (including updating the book blog, on which I am currently four reviews behind: Pattern Recognition, If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, Jitterbug Perfume, and Half the Sky)--and, of course, writing that pesky dissertation.

In the meantime, thanks again, Erin!

Get Excited!

My new shirt, modeled by something I got excited about and made:
I wish her shoulders weren't quite so lumpy. I wonder if I can fix that?

Shirt Refashion

So, my first project with the duct tape dummy wasn't entirely successful, but it was good practice for the refashion I want to do with another of David's castoff shirts that I like even better. It also took kind of a ridiculously long time; later projects should go faster.

Before:

After:

And some in-between: (pinning, wonky sleeves before I fixed them [sort of], prior to shortening, and cuff detail)

Sadly, I am a laughably bad seamstress. As in, I laugh at myself as I'm sewing (on my hand-me-down machine, which screams, clatters, and generally makes noise David refers to as the tortured screams of the souls of dead babies) because I'm such a mess. And although I spent the aforementioned ridiculous amount of time on this shirt, repositioning buttons, sewing double seams, securing the belt with hidden snaps (!), etc., major problems remain, such as that the sleeves are still kind of crazy, there's a bulge in the left hip, and it doesn't fit comfortably across my chest unless I undo several buttons.

However, I think I may still actually wear it when the weather warms up (with a shirt under it, thanks to that button problem). And in the meantime, I'm looking forward to revamping another of his shirts into something sort of like this. Actually, the Anthropologie web site is quite inspiring for refashion ideas. They make the shirt I just finished look pretty pathetic (though generally about $100 cheaper)--but inspire hopes for future projects!

Duct Tape Dummy

So this weekend, David helped me make a dress form out of duct tape! I'm not going to go into the details of the Whole Long Process right now, but as you can tell from the time-lapse video below, it was indeed LONG, and a PROCESS* and David pretty much deserves sainthood for his invaluable help.

I may write more about the project later, but as the list of things about which I mean to write later (ahem, Avatar) continues to grow, I wouldn't hold your breath.

*One, sadly, still underway, as I try to make her look even more like me.

Christmasy

I am back home, and delighted to be here, Winter Storm notwithstanding!

Actually, the snow feels very festive; David helped me bring home a beautiful (sustainably- and locally-grown) tree this afternoon, and although it's a bit short on lights and thus still undecorated, I am thrilled to have it glowing prettily and deliciously scenting my living room!

I've had my own place for the past six or seven Christmases, but have always returned to my parents' for my entire Christmas break from school, and thus have eschewed any decorating. But this year, whether because I was inspired by decorating at David's parents'; or because spending several weeks in Walla Walla is admittedly less tempting than spending them in sunny southern California; or because David's Real Job doesn't have quite the Christmas break my semi-permanent student gig does, and I don't want to abandon him entirely; a tree seemed like the right decision.

I'll get another string or two of lights, and then I can't wait to deck it out in my 25-for-$5 Target mini balls and the string ornaments I started tonight!* I also have silver and gold spray paint and lots of glitter, so we'll also see what else I might find to hang.

In other seasonal news, it's time to get in your Christmas card requests! As I did last year, I'll be sending real live cards to whomever would like them.** If you want in on the Single Person Christmas Card Crusade action, send your mailing address to disasterkitchen ((at)) gmail.com. Whether I know you in person or not, whether you're an avid commenter, emphatic lurker, or are visiting here for the first time, I'd love to share the Christmas love! So hurry and get those addresses to me--preferably within the next week (by which time, hopefully, I'll actually have the cards designed and assembled... ahem).

Merry Merry!

*Let it be noted that all water balloons are apparently not created equal; the cute little grenade ones Becca and I used were lovely and spherical, but the bag of assorted colored ones I picked up at Target tend, sadly, more toward the oblong/ovoid/generally pear-shaped.

**Though last year I forgot my dear friend Mandy, and still feel bad about it. Mandy, should I send you two cards this year? I'll try hard not to forget anyone this year!

Wrapping Up

It's the last day of NaBloPoMo! I didn't do so well this year, but I did try. It looks like I'm coming in with 29 posts for the month of November.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the past few days, including the ornaments I promised last time. Becca and I created a tree worthy of Martha Stewart, complete with painted and glittered acorns, gilded oak leaves, and tiny string balls (far easier to make than the big lamp one!).

We also got to see the Swinjarnyars, and the ever-delightful Peanut, yesterday in Walla Walla. Good times!

Check out the album here: