meet little dog

Enjoying the afternoon sun and doing a little dog watching... (click on pics to enlarge them)

Anywhere near Cameron is alright with her.

I just told her to stop begging for food, so she left the kitchen and is sulking...

Cameron as her dog bed...
Her other favorite spot- my Anthro chair, awesome...

Loves Loves Loves this guy, or thinks he has food for her...

This pretty much sums it up- she uses us to gain a little height to accommodate for her short stature...

Prints of nostalgia and honey

Since joining Pickwick, the new print shop in portland, I decided to open up an etsy shop to sell my prints online.

I currently have a few prints listed in my first etsy shop- grayday- with the intent to decorate the home, etc. But now I will move them over to my print shop, and keep drawings and the occasional painting in grayday beside my home decor items and handmade pillows.

I'm really excited to get this going and plan on using part of Friday to take better photographs and list the prints in my shop! Here's a link for a sneak peek! Gray Day's Print shop

And I've added a link to the right sidebar of my blog.

What's been going on...?

This week has been busy and it's only thursday, well Thursday at 1am! whoops. But I thought I would just check in with my 'ol blog and post some things I've been up to! First off- above is a picture of the remaining birthday flowers Cam got me the other week. He bought roses and lillies and these are the last ones still kicking. So I cut them and put them in this fun old pitcher we have which makes a lovely color combo!

On Tuesday I went out to Western Maine to the gallery I do freelance web work for. Although I continually update their etsy shops during the week I hadn't been out there since Nov, so it was a good time to check in. We got a lot done in those 6 hours! I made them a blog, which I now am going to regularly update! I also signed them up for a twitter account the week before and we began taking new and improved pictures for their etsy shop. I'm heading back out there next Tuesday for more photos and updates. A new year and the perfect time to market their jewelry for wedding season!

On Sunday we had our first meeting at the printing co-op I now belong to, and I am very very excited! It's going to be a great opportunity, great for networking and for shows! Can't wait to get in there. Well to bed, to bed......

Lobstah

The other evening, after a full day of rain, we decided to cash in on our little Lobster dinner birthday celebration event and all around tasty evening... So we went to our local seafood place on Commercial Street and got two big ones. It's nice to get super super fresh lobster and especially great when it costs less than Salmon!

It all felt so appropriate with the howling winds and rain beating down on our windows, we already felt like we lived in a light house so having a fresh catch was very ideal. As we picked apart our lobsters we spoke of future abodes with our very own row boat and lobster traps to catch our own meals!

some day some day

Sailors in Stripes by Urban Knitfits

Naughty Nautical
Shipwrecked Sailor
Letterman Larry

All available in my Knitting shop- Urbanknitfits!

I thought u should know... about these shops on etsy

MechanicalStag- very cool vintage shop for the home!

Ninainvorm Ceramics and silk screens.

Smartfish- hand made shoes, like tom shoes but more feminine!

thevamoose- cool jewelry like this nautical knot bracelet!

RetroReproHandmade- very cool hats!

Happy B-day Cameron!

Happy Birthday to the husband!

combating the winter doldrums...

It's only the middle of January and already I find myself getting restless and pining for the days of sandals and walks to the farmer's market... However, I will admit a fresh snowfall always picks me up a bit. Perhaps it's the potential threat of a snow day, or just the clean white frosting coating all the trees along my drive to work, either way luckily that part of winter has not gotten old. And although I don't have a quick fire way to get over cabin fever, I offer some photos to merely document my January in New England.

"She came in through the bathroom window...." The view from our bathroom window. Yes we are 6 inches from the neighboring house. And we haven't had quite the dump of snow to cause a complete black out of this little portal... but the ice cycles do for now!

Look closely, and click on the image to enlarge if you must- there is a blue jay in this Cypress looking out from our kitchen window....

And for my Birthday on Sunday the 17th, Cam made me home made eggs benedict with salmon tomato and onions! He's quite good at making hollandaise sauce!

Good luck with your winter! The bright side is the sun is waking up a little earlier and staying up past 4:30! So there's always a silver lining.

Li' Kidney Bean

sleeping in the sun. (click on images to view them larger!)

Home made pasta!

For New Year's Cam and I decided to make home made pasta! A feat Cam had been talking about forever! So we rented some movies, stayed in and dusted off the 'ol pasta attachment for our Kitchen aid. It is truly amazing what can be made with flour and an egg. And the result was probably thee best pasta I have had in a VERY long time, Of course it's easy for one to be biased when you make it yourself. We used a Mario Batali recipe and in his book he mentions when in Italy not only did they use their kitchen chairs to dry the pasta but even their beds! ( You'll be happy to know we used our chairs)

Here's a picture of Millie waiting for the scraps to inevitably fall from the cutting process. Unfortunately Millie had too much pasta which resulted in us taking turns through out the night to let her out.... mental note for the future! Whoops, poor little dog!

Here is the video of the cutting process. Excuse my bad stereotyping, maybe watch it with the volume off! And the second video is what comes before- the pressing. Each section is pressed 6 times at different pressures.

I made a cream sauce which I perfected while living in Italy- simply a coincidence. You start with olive oil in a pan fry up some garlic and maybe some onion if you like. Then add 1/2 cup of white flour to the oil, stir it around and when it becomes pasty, add 1/2 cup of milk. You can add cheese if you like, but this time I added one can of diced tomatoes and some sun-dried tomatoes we had lying around. You will need to keep the milk near by in case the sauce really starts to thicken, then just keep adding milk until you get the right proportion. And with all cooking and with typically Italian cooking- it's all about the feel of something and is ultimately up to you the cook!

I hope this has inspired you to make pasta if you haven't before. This is just the beginning of our pasta making endeavors, although I doubt we will do this every month!

Cam's Friends From Ak, survive the quake in Haiti

Here's the article.

Here's the link to the video.

Etsy Favs! 1/15

It feels like a while since I did a little etsy favs blog post! So here goes, one for the New Year!
I have included links to the individual items as well, so have a ball!

A little shout out for my new hat nuts 4 Love, hand knit by urbanknitfits.

Vintage Pheasant from allthingswhite.

Madam Dakar, fabric purse by outofafrika.

Natural and earthfriendly laundry soap! by showertreatsoap

Custom felted Dog Portraits by kaysk9s!!

Too Shy Salmon- tee by Rosiemusic's shop.

PDF pattern by Frechpress knits! Lovely wool slippers!

Thermos Pillow by cou cou salut.

Love this 8x8 Photo called "Street Party" by Tim Irving, shop name "Opart".

Knitting Inspiration...

On a lark, we went and saw Young Victoria this week. If you haven't seen it- GO!

- Now this is not a movie review, but rather a little gushing of girly inspiration I gleaned from the movie, for my own knitting projects no less!

Young Victoria, wears a lovely amethyst plaid gown several times during the movie! And it was my favorite of her many beautiful costumes. (oscar nominated for costume design I'm sure!). And of course I could not find a picture of said dress- so this one will have to suffice, although imagine it as more subtle than this...

ANYWAY- my point is, now I want to knit a plaid hat, weird perhaps, ambitious, yes.

Here I go and I'll let you know how it develops!

My B-day promo on Urban Knitfits!

To Celebrate my upcoming Birthday on Jan 17th- I am throwing out a little promo in my Etsy shop! Buy one item and get One wrist band free with your purchase! Choose from the patterns and color, and indicate the size in your order!

Above: my OXOX V-day band.


Lilac wrist band the Y cable.

And the y cable in green!

The promo end at midnight EST on the 17th!

NEW on GRAYDAY.etsy.com

A steam punk inspired- corsage!
Seamstress corsage.
Two hand painted pillows- 3 more to come in this genre! Still assembling! Here's the link!

Orange you glad you're in my kitchen?

Over the years I have ripped out pictures of yellow and green kitchens with large faded built in book shelves, crazy hutches, deep sinks etc- and put them in my dream kitchen file in my larger "home ideas" file... And now, although still renting and unable to paint, I have found myself with a blue and orange kitchen! It's the Orange Kitchen Aid we registered for two years ago that really set this whole thing in motion! Then came the Martha Stewart recipe box and matching flour and sugar canisters. Thus the color theme was set. So naturally when we moved in I made orange curtains with turquoise bows! How did this happen!? And now, after Christmas I have some new Orange elements to add to the mix, it might be beyond my control at this point!

(above sit our new antique Lobster salt and pepper shakers next to our ISIS Ceramics teapot.)

The second orange present of the season- a funky vintage orange swan, surly something one would never see in the wild, but only in our kitchen! It holds the random power cords- for my camera and ipod, since all computing takes place in the kitchen.

I do have other vintage elements in the mix to balance out this growing color scheme. Here I use vintage tins to house our cooking utensils. This was an improvisation after our glass Anthropologie one was knocked over... sigh. Originally I purchased a whole slew of these to use as center pieces at our wedding reception- to house the flowers. Very Colorful and it's fun to reuse them in our kitchen!
Here are one of our many shelves since our rental only has ONE cabinet. And behind them are the orange curtains.
Since we have two little built in shelves in the kitchen, I have had fun making little scenes on them in order to avoid a cluttered mess of measuring cups etc. Here I have an antique family pitcher, next to a friend's handmade fruit bowl, a family picture and a little ORANGE- esque figurine. And behind all that a tiny painting by my great grandmother- which fits perfectly in the little corner!

Thanks for stopping by my orange Kitchen, next time I'll bring out the tea pot and well have a cup!

Let's go to the MOOoooovies! (or rent them anyway...)

I've been knitting a lot this year between my etsy shop and Christmas presents, I've had some time to "sit around"... As a result I've seen a lot of movies recently and I wanted to share my list of recommendations, after all winter is almost made for staying in and catching up on your netflix queue.

So here it is:

I've Loved you so Long- with Kristen Scott Thomas- a foreign film that is very moving and was really lovely to watch. (although if you tend to only like upbeat movies, I wouldn't recommend it- I'm talking to you Dad) Kristen's character spent the last 15yrs in prison and moves in with her sister and their family after her release. She wrestles with her past while striving to begin her new life... the new people she meets are caring and reseptive, it was really touching.

Elling- A Norwegian film that is totally quirky, funny, absurd and a little awkward. About two socially awkward male adults who are institutionalized- one for being a Momma's Boy and hiding in his closet from the Police after his mother passes away, the other is obsessed with "The ladies". They are soon thrown out of the institution and the govt gives them their own apt where they have to try and engage with the real world. A cute story about friendship and growth.

Paris Je T'aime- A french film made up of 5 minute short films from different directors and actors- all on the topic of Love- the setting Paris. I REALLY liked this movie and highly recommend it!

O'Horten- another Norwegian film, about a retired train conductor and his journey to redefine himself after he retires, sweet, and quirky.

The Garden- A documentary about the largest Urban garden in the US- in LA, and it's fight to stay a community garden. Oh the politics, reminded us of THE WIRE.

The Wire- Speaking of... We were late to jump on this band wagon, but were so happy we did, we watched all of the seasons back to back and once they were over, walked around like parentless children, not sure what to do with ourselves! PREMISE- Baltimore life- the relationship btwn cops, drug dealers, shipping yard, politicians and the media. (without giving too much away) But with any good story you like both the bad guys and the good guys and with each death no matter which side, you grieve.

North and South- A british mini series taking place at the turn of the century (1900's) when a family relocates from the south of England to the industrial North. How they adjust to their new surroundings and the people they meet... IE if you love Pride and Prejudice- you will love this love story!

Paper Heart- an "indie" film (some would say- "my generation") with Michel Cera and Charlyn Yi- a "documentary" on love where Charlyn interviews actual couples and individuals to find out if she believes in love, all the while as her own love life begins to bloom! ALSO there is this song- "Magic Perfume" That they write and play together that is really funny and cute...

Valentino: The Last Emperor- Enough Said! It's a documentary on Valentino it's a remarkable look into his life, legacy, fashion and self tanner!

June Bug- With Amy Adams, Embeth Davidtz and a whole great cast- Embeth plays an art dealer who travels south with her new husband and meets his small town family Amy being one of them... very cute, a little funky but ultiamtely very sweet. And I think one of Amy Adams' best roles!

Away We go- About a couple's journey to find a new life and a community where they can raise their future child. Very sweet, funny, good soundrack- and a "green" production where they shot basically in one location, no paper plates, local food etc! Plus you can't go wrong with Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski

anywho, that's it for now- I've gone all the way back to the summer on my netflix queue...

Happy watching!

Winter Wonderland: via email from the UK

My Uncle just sent me these pictures of their Farm in England. As some of you may know, the weather in the UK has been very intense of late and here are some magical and frigid pictures to prove it!

On a walk through the fields.

Detail shot of ice on the hedge.

The sheep, like penguins huddle together.

And their dog Ruby finds a patch of sun to warm herself in. My Aunt runs her bussiness ISIS ceramics on their farm, and as you can imagine their surroundings provide much inspiration for her hand painted ceramics. I wonder which scene will show up on a lamp or platter next? Here's the link to her site.