September Projects

September is almost over and I don't even know how that happened. It's not been Miles' best month, to put it mildly, he's been a bit of a tyrant through his cold, growing pains, and teething. There are some clues left behind from the rubble of Hurricane Little -- piles of clothes soiled with snot and drool, chewed up books, miscellaneous kitchen gadgets in various states of disrepair, and some dried up raisins and frittata ground into the carpet. Somehow in the chaos, I managed to start a couple of cooking and sewing projects on the weekend and in between naps, work, and fluctuating nanny schedules. 


My first project involved breaking out my Bread Baker's Apprentice book and doing two things that I've been meaning to try for a while: pizza dough and sourdough bread. The pizza dough was a success. I made six dough crusts and froze them for later use. The other night we decided to give them a try and they were wonderfully delicate and stretchy and when coupled with my baking stone, we made pizza that rivals our favorite pizzeria. Dough win.

The sourdough has been more of a challenge. I embarked on making my own starter over a week ago and still have yet to make a sourdough loaf. I feel like I've spent more quality time with the seed and barm than I have with my own child. Maybe if Miles smelled like rye flour and pineapple juice, I'd love him more. The process is easy enough. It starts out with dark rye flour and some liquid (pineapple juice for the first two days) and goes something like this: mix, cover, ferment, uncover, mix, throw out half of your bubbly (stinky) concoction, mix, cover, ferment, mix some more, throw out some more, uncover (shielding your eyes from the fumes), refrigerate, wait wait wait, warm up, mix, cool off, rise, wait wait wait, flip yet another page to find a list of 12 more steps to go. I think you get the point. 

So here I started, with a weeks worth of variations on the starter in my Pyrex measuring cup, and am today, finally at the bread making step. I was so excited to have a fresh baked sourdough loaf on the table for dinner, but after reading through each step carefully, I realized that the bread won't be finished until about 9pm. Bummer. I should have started the process when I woke up this morning! Well, lesson learned for next time. And there will be a next time, because I have a bowl full of barm in the fridge that needs to be fed, rocked, and snuggled (I kid). J and I have made a pact to bake at least three batches before giving up, then I'll freeze the starter for later so I don't have to start the process again. 

The other project was making Miles a chair. I've been searching around for a mini upholstered chair for Miles to climb on and relax in, but they're either all terribly ugly or insanely expensive. So, I spent one evening on the internet and found a lady on Etsy who made a pattern for a plush kid's chair. I purchased the pattern on Tuesday and with great restraint, waited all the way until Saturday to get the supplies. J watched Little all afternoon while I went on an epic run to JoAnn's and Fabric Depot. Little took stock of the foam and batting and determined it was a worthy project. I had all of the pieces cut out by Saturday night and spent Sunday in my sweatshop pumping out the slipcover. The instructions were pretty good (not outstanding though) and I had to scratch my head and dig deep into my brain's sewing chest to figure out how to get it all put together. 

In the end I'm pretty happy with the results. Would I do it again? No. It was only slightly less expensive than just buying a stuffed chair from Pottery Barn, and was kind of a pain to sew. However, it looks adorable in our living room and Little loves it, so totally worth the mild annoyance. I have to go back and fix the arms (they need more stuffing) and I goofed when putting in the zipper, so there's a slight pucker on the right side (this may never get fixed though, since removing a zipper is high on my list of things never to do). I don't think Little will care though, because he now has his own piece of furniture to love and jump on. 

Vogue

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think this one needs a little more explanation. Yesterday morning, Miles was in a spectacularly restless mood (probably something to do with the teeth that will never pop out) and was using my body as a jungle gym. Again. I, on the other hand, was feeling rather sloth and just wanted to stare blankly into the distance while Skyping with my mom, wolfing down breakfast, and chugging my morning coffee. The fact that I constantly have little hands, a nose, and sometimes an entire head groping around in my undershirt really doesn't phase me anymore. Miles has learned to use my zipper now, which makes life a lot more interesting (especially in public). It is for this reason that I walked around the house for about five hours with a pacifier stuck in my cleavage and had not a clue. Apparently, Miles unzipped my hoodie, stashed it in there, zipped me back up and went on with his baby business. I found it when getting ready to take a much needed shower.

The only good part of this story is that the grey hoodie pictured above is a cute pre-pregnancy sweatshirt that has replaced the size large maternity thing that I've been wearing around the house for the past six months -- silent cheer from Jesse who is thrilled, no doubt, that his wife is no longer wearing things that look like she borrowed them from a tubby hobo.

Which brings me to the real reason for today's post. Somehow I managed to get on the email list for Vogue patterns and quarterly, I'm updated on the new seasonal fashions and alerted to great sales. I went online this morning and thumbed through some of the Summer 2011 preview and found a few really cute patterns. It reminded me of the pact that Jesse and I made when I was pregnant -- we set aside funds for me to go out shopping for a few cute pieces to add to my wardrobe once I returned to a size that made me feel good. Well, I've been back to my pre-pregnancy weight for over four months now and still haven't done much about finding new things to wear. I have no solid reasons anymore for dressing like a slob.

I decided that rather than spend my funds on a new dress or two, I'd like to finally get a proper dress form so I can play around with dressmaking again. The duct tape form I made was great for deciding if I really wanted to tailor my own clothes, but it's heavy, clunky, and makes my pins sticky. Also, despite the fact that I actually weigh a bit less now than before Miles came along, my body shape has changed dramatically. Things are a little more curvy and a little less, ahem, perky. I think I'm going to do a little research online today to find the dress form that will work for me and maybe Vogue pattern V1086 could be a cute summertime dud. 

Thrifting and Crafting

This weekend was beautiful and I decided to make the most of it. Jesse had work to do on Saturday, so I took Miles for a weekend outing with Anna and Elliot. We initially were going to stop for the grand opening of a new Cotton Babies store in Vancouver -- a grand opening that promised a free BumGenius diaper to the first 100 customers. We should have known that showing up only 30 minutes before the opening was a bad idea. As we drove by, we saw that tons of women, men, babies, and toddlers were already forming a line that wrapped around the entire building. Instead of joining the chaos, we decided to go to an awesome consignment shop that Anna has been raving about for quite a while. I scored a sweet pair of Converse sneakers for Miles for only $8. They're size 5's, so he won't be able to wear them probably until after his 1st birthday, but I will display them prominently on his shelf until then. I can't wait to go back when I have a better idea of what size clothes Miles will be wearing in the spring and summer!

Today, it's not nearly as warm, but very sunny. The non-gray sky put me in the mood to do a bit of crafting, but the success of my project largely depended on Miles. It seems like the sunshine put him in a good mood too and he was willing to sit through a morning of chores and watching me sort through projects that I aspired to start, but never had the time to finish. Between me cutting and folding fabric and the washer tumbling around load after load of clothes, he was a happy little dude. Occasionally he would let out a little shriek, as if to say "hey Mom, I'm still here," and I would make a goofy face and he would crack up. Man, it's been a good day. 

In between our stints of crafting and doing chores, he's managed to sneak in two good, if short, naps. As you can see, I've whittled down the laundry pile and am well on my way to making an adorable sun hat for Miles. It won't be very useful here in Portland for another couple of months, but we're headed to Florida and then D.C. to visit the grandparents in just 11 days and I am hoping for lots of sun (at least in FL). Ahh! Only 10 more days to start packing while biting my nails thinking about the long airplane journey across the country with a 5-month-old baby.

A Quilt for Eloise

I started this project a long time ago, but morning sickness, exhaustion from pregnancy, and life in general prevented me from finishing it. The project sat in my closet as a lonely quilt top for a good six months. When I heard the news of our friend Linnaea's new baby girl, Eloise, I pulled it out of that "to do" pile. I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible, which becomes more complicated when you stray from the traditional yellow/green combo. The big question was whether I should include blue? It was a tough decision, but ultimately I'm very pleased. This quilt also marks the first time that I used a dark color as the background. I played around with a few different colors, but decided that the slate fabric compliments the color palate much better than plain white sashing -- also, white and babies usually don't mix. 

Given that I was recovering from birth and settling into new parenthood, my mom was gracious enough to offer to finish it while she was in town. She finished the back, quilted the layers, and sewed on the binding. I have to say it's kind of nice having more than one person involved in a baby quilt's creation. Just that much more love has gone into the gift. While Miles was napping on Monday, I finally got a clear window of time to take it over to the post office and send it down to Santa Cruz. The quilt was packed with entire package of newborn sized diapers that Miles, my jumbo baby, outgrew at two weeks old. Eloise was just shy of seven pounds at birth, so I'm thinking they'll be useful for a while.

Welcome to the world, Eloise!

Weekend Plans

In the numerous hours I spent in bed recovering from my damned wisdom teeth, I had lots of time to think about new projects. Certainly, planning the move to our new apartment in two weeks, and writing another paper for class is not enough excitement.

My good friend, Sharon, is getting married next weekend and I was looking through my closet to figure out what to wear. The dresses that I worked on back in April and May were a little too summery -- and I already wore the green one to two different events. So, I set out to make a dress last night and managed to finish it up before dinner this afternoon. Of course, it's the same pattern that I've used before, but with an altered neckline. I couldn't help myself, it fits so well! I had to rip out the zipper twice, but it was totally worth the end result! The only part that needs work is the belt (right now the yellow buckle is just tacked to the waist) and I need to put in the hem. I also need to find a black cardigan, since it is supposed to be a little cool down in Los Angeles in the evening.

Jesse said that when paired with my silvery heels from Halloween, I looked very much like I could be on the set of Mad Men. I'll take that as a compliment.

Weekend Walk

This weekend, Jesse's cousin and wife stopped in to visit on the way up to their new home in Seattle, WA. It was great having them all to ourselves, since our visits are usually confined to a couple of hours during a quick visit to California. They arrived around dinner time on Friday and stayed until the late afternoon on Saturday. Since they had been in the car for hours on end, all they wanted to do was walk around and explore.

Friday afternoon, we walked around the Pearl and grabbed dinner at Bridgeport Brewery. After a hearty breakfast at Biscuits Cafe, we headed up to Washington Park and the Rose Garden. This weekend happened to be the Portland Rose Festival, so there were large groups of rose admirers milling around. All of the flowers were in bloom and fragrant, so I was incredibly excited to go row by row and smell each variety. I found a plant that I thought might be perfect for Jesse's mom's garden, but when I pulled out my camera, I found that I had left the memory card at home in my laptop. Sadly, I managed to go on another outing without taking a single photo.

After the Rose Garden, we walked up the hill to the Japanese Garden where I found a spectacular exhibit on textiles of the Aniu of Hokkaido, Japan and the Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest. Due to my lack of memory card, I'm borrowing images from the Japanese Garden's online exhibit, Parallel Worlds. I'd really like to go back before the end of the month to take a little more time to read through all of the exhibit and maybe snap a few photos of the textiles that are not featured online. However, I don't think a photo could do justice to the real thing. They are truly works of art.

The exhibit did an interesting job of examining the handmade ceremonial robes of two native cultures on both sides of the northern Pacific Ocean. Each piece displayed beautiful, rich colors applied in distinctive geometric patterns, yet called to mind similar motifs. The Japanese textiles were intricately appliqued with hand embroidery, while the Pacific Northwest textiles were primarily woven. I think I was most taken with the Aniu ceremonial robes because the technique used is most familiar to me. I was able to fully appreciate the time and skill it takes to hand applique and embroider.

Of course, anytime I see a beautiful fabric creation the wheels in my head start turning. I'm currently scheming to find a way to take some inspiration from these ceremonial robes and apply it to quilting. I got the graph paper out this morning and doodled a bit. It might take a while to plan, but I think it could be really beautiful!

Hello June!

Thursday morning we were up before the sun and on the way to the airport. This was the first time we've flown down to Santa Cruz in the morning and thought it would be a nice change. However, getting up at 3:30am for our 6:30am flight had the same effect as when we would fly all day across the country and arrive in California tired, grumpy, and jet-lagged. We dragged along most of the afternoon and then I finally relented and passed out for an extended nap. The rest of the weekend was awesome though (hence my lack of posting). I took my vacation time so seriously that I only took three photographs -- two at Daphne & Ben's wedding and one of Jesse's eye that became swollen and red from allergies on Sunday night. He's better now, but it was fun to joke that I had socked him in the eye, causing it to nearly swell shut.

We saw lots of friends while we were in town, including Larson & Serena. It was great to catch up, especially since I haven't seen either of them since we found out that they are going to have a baby. Serena is an adorable pregnant lady with just a little bulge in front. We all marveled at her appetite, wondering how on earth such a small person could manage to eat so much! She must be doing something right, because she's healthy and happy and glowing. I finally got the chance to give them the baby quilt that has been sitting in the closet, taunting me for several weeks now.

As for today, I'm planning on getting back into a normal routine again. I have a few errands to run and some new projects to plan. One of my favorite food blogs, Pinch My Salt, has embarked on a mission to bake every type of bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice. I've been following the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge for a couple of weeks now. I picked up the book at the library, just to have a look, but I think I'm going to try a recipe or two before I have to return it. I'm particularly intrigued by the bagel recipe, which is slightly different than the one I tried a few weeks ago. I also would like to try the marbled rye. New baking projects will certainly mean a more regular blogging schedule again!

New and Improved

I finished another dress today. I originally thought I'd make a shirt with the fabric, but liked the first dress so much that I decided to go with my momentum and whip up another. This one doesn't have a sash -- I'm seriously rethinking the bow on the first and may refashion it into a belt with a cute buckle instead. Also, I made the neckline a v-shape instead of rounded. This one came together pretty quickly and I'm very pleased. The only thing left to do is finish the hem (and find a place to wear it).

Marvel at the Masterpiece

My dress experiment is complete. I certainly can't complain anymore that I don't have a thing to wear to Ben & Daphne's wedding in May. The Vogue pattern fit almost perfectly right out of the envelope. At $20-30 a pattern, I guess you get what you pay for! I'm so happy with the results, I can hardly wait wear it out. I still haven't hemmed the skirt or pulled out a few of the basting stitches that are poking thorough, but even Jesse agrees, it certainly doesn't look like a $35 dress.

I'm already plotting to make another (maybe this time without the sash) and will adjust the neckline to be a v-shape or maybe even square. So awesome! Sewing rocks!

New Duds

Well, almost new duds.

I am just about finished ironing out the kinks on one of my dress patterns. Since my new favorite fabric store was having a sale today -- everything in the store 25% off -- I decided to take the plunge and get my first cuts of real fabric for experimenting. Both prints are from the Robert Kaufman line, which in my opinion is one of the best for quality cottons. I have to admit that these two fabrics caught my eye the very first time I went to Fabric Depot and I had a hard time resisting a giant purchase. So, this trip was pretty easy. I picked out the prints, found a nice cotton lining, got all of my notions, and am now ready to get to work.

The fabric on the left side of my duct tape dummy (white, black, and gold) will be for the dress. Very Anthropologie don't you think? The Isla Dorada dress was the inspiration for me to try sewing clothes for myself. I remember our first meeting distinctly; Ms. Dorada staring at me from the display window in the Pearl District. I'm certainly not interested in copying the design, particularly the ruffles, but the graphic print and simplicity of style drew me in immediately. Also, at $178 retail, my creation will come in at a fraction of the cost (about $35 for fabric and notions, not including the cost of the pattern or practice muslin).

And the fabric on the right side of Erin 2.0 (green and gold circles) will be for the shirt pattern that I perfected this past week. I purchased a little more fabric than necessary for the shirt, so maybe I'll have enough left over for a simple a-line skirt. We'll see, I don't want to get too ahead of myself. So, I'm off to wash up my new finds and finish up the last touches on the practice muslin dress!

Trial and Error

On the exercise front, I went out for my first 1.5-mile-run yesterday afternoon. I made it through the first mile and felt like I might hurl (I stupidly chose a route that has a pretty significant hill). As I was hunched over, concentrating on not losing my lunch, I decided to adjust my 8-week schedule to include one extra week (this week). Instead of attempting 1.5 miles this week, I'll cut it down to just one. Then next week, I will start up with the original routine. I'm not discouraged, in fact today is my rest/walk day and I plan on going for a stroll this afternoon after a snack.

After my run, I got right to work on cutting out pieces for my first attempt at making cute summer clothes. Cutting out the pieces is the easy part, but even that was a bit challenging -- I was pretty sure the pattern maker was on crack when laying out the placement diagram. I had to improvise a bit, but luckily it worked out just fine. This morning I made a stiff cup of coffee and got right to work on sewing.

Almost immediately, I was happy that I decided to make the shirt out of muslin first. Once I pieced together the front and back, I realized that I was going to have to make some major alterations. I had to cut the pattern one size larger than I needed to accommodate my bust line, which meant that I had to take in seams in other places. Also, I'm a lot shorter from my shoulder to my bust line than the pattern called for, so I had to take up the slack accordingly. I usually have this very same problem when I buy clothes off the rack -- I need a hybrid between petite and regular sizes.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about the outcome. Of course it's hard to tell on the dummy, but it really does fit very well. I'm glad I survived all of the altering and ripping out (lots) of seams. It makes me a little sad that my next step will be to take the whole thing apart so I can use the altered muslin as pattern pieces for the real thing. However, the uncomfortable afternoon spent wrapped up like a duct tape sausage has already paid off. I can't wait to get started on one of the dress patterns!

Inspired

I talked with my friend Lauren on the phone last night and we managed to gab about what's going on in our lives for over two hours! It's really hard having a best friend that is 2,000 miles away. It took us a whole week of phone tag to finally hear each others voices, and believe me, I needed a good chat. We got on the subject of exercise and she was telling me about how she started training for a road race in a few weeks. Feeling inspired by her accomplishments, I decided to check out a training schedule online that she suggested. It seems very reasonable. I wonder why I haven't tried this before? Ladies and gentlemen, I will begin training for a hypothetical 5K today. I really have no desire to run in a race, but need some kind of structure to get my butt on a regular exercise routine again.

According to the schedule, Monday was a rest/walk day -- believe me, I relaxed to the fullest extent possible. After running a few errands, I ended up at the fabric store again on the hunt for a cute dress pattern to try out on my dummy (Erin 2.0). I ended up browsing through pattern catalogs for almost an hour and then spent another hour drooling over all of the fabric choices.

I forced my inner prudence to take over and decided that it would be best to just buy a few yards of muslin and play around with fitting before diving right into the fancy stuff. I started out with pretty basic dress patterns (along with a simple blouse) and am hoping that after a few tries I will be able to do more complex designs. Maybe I'll get all Project Runway on your asses and yell Fierce! at the top of my lungs when I wake up in the mornings. Or, a more reasonable option would involve me becoming accomplished enough to alter some of the basic patterns to include things like cute keyhole backs, or an extra tuck here and there for fun. I feel that the more I try the more I learn.

So, today I will run 1.5 miles (hopefully) without dying and will conquer pattern piecing. I also think I'm going to make a cover for Erin 2.0, because I have a feeling that the duct tape will start to get sticky if I continue to pull clothes off and on her over and over.

*** Noon Update ***

I just got a call to let me know that the architectural firm was selected for an interview for that survey project! YAY! Now I'm really going to have to get out on that run to burn off the excitement.

Indulgence

Jesse and I were exercise buddies yesterday. We don't exercise together, just serve as motivation to get our butts out the door (then we go our separate ways). I am trying to get back into running, since I really have no excuse with all of this free time, but also because I need to feel productive and scheduling activities is the first step. I only ran for about a mile and a half, but walked for another three miles. It was a gorgeous day, so why not? When I got back home, I was pooped (and starving).

We ordered takeout from a local restaurant, because I have been craving Pad Thai for days. It was delicious and hit that empty noodle spot in my soul. Feeling sated after dinner, I sat down to work on a sewing project and realized that my eyes felt like lead at 6:30 in the evening. All I wanted to do was take a nap. Instead of giving in to the exhaustion/food coma, I decided to take a trip to the Fabric Depot. Nothing like (what feels like) an acre of fabric to revive the soul. I spent two hours perusing the rows for just the right fabric to complete one of my quilting projects. Everything in the store was discounted 20%, so I also picked up two jumbo spools of thread. I'm all set to go! It was hard not to go wild and buy tons of fabric for future projects, but I did get a few ideas for what might come next.

While looking for just the right fabric, I stumbled on the pattern books and spent about an hour checking out what's new for spring and summer. I was pleasantly surprised to find multiple patterns that were really cute. This morning I pulled out a couple of books that I've had for a while to study up on how to fit a pattern and measure myself properly. I admit, the covers of the books are hideous, but there's a lot of great information inside on how to make clothing patterns fit well (so they don't look homemade). I've had my eye on a few cute summer dresses at Anthropologie, but have a hard time stomaching the $170-260 price tag for a basic cotton shift. The thought of making something that I'll actually wear is pretty cool, but the process seems a little daunting. I have to admit that without a dress form, it's going to be a little difficult. However, if I can conquer curve piecing in quilting then I can certainly manage darts and princess seams! Maybe I'll try to enlist Jesse to help with the fitting.

I do have a wedding coming up at the end of May. (Wheels in head turning.)

Home Again (For Now)

I picked up Jesse last night from the airport. This time he was flying in from Alaska. We were both pretty exhausted, so I fixed a bite to eat and we collapsed in bed. Despite our exhaustion, neither of us slept very well -- Jesse's restlessness from anxiety about his presentation today, mine from excitement.

I got a phone call yesterday from the architecture firm where I have been consulting for the past few months. There's a new proposal that seems to be pretty perfect and they're going for it, with me as the historian. I can hardly express how excited I am at the prospect of more work (other than temping) and there's lots to be done between now and March 12th when the proposal is due. In fact, I may have to fly down to San Francisco for a couple of days to work with the marketing team. Rad! I spent most of yesterday afternoon reading through the materials and preparing for a conference call that I have this afternoon.

On the craft front, while Jesse was enjoying the breathtaking scenery of Alaska (I'll post photos tomorrow), I was busy finishing up a few books, but also working on a number of sewing projects. I initially started this one for someone else, but I like the color combination so much that I think I might just keep it for myself! It's the same pattern as Ava's quilt, but a very different color scheme. It occurred to me that I made our bedroom quilt a little over two years ago, so I've been thinking that we're due for a change. Or maybe it would just make a good throw for the living room? I haven't decided yet, but can't wait to continue making squares to see how it develops.

A Long Weekend in Photos

I had a nice long weekend and I'm sad to see it come to an end. Although we didn't really do anything spectacular, it was nice to just hang around the house with Jesse and relax. Tomorrow he is off on another business trip and I have the apartment all to myself. That means I have a list of things I want to accomplish while he's gone.

The Pecan Shortbread Strawberry bars were a hit at the office, but were trumped by a lemon cake. I never saw it coming. Oh Lemon Cake!! Why!? (shaking fists). Jesse got second place and took home a cute little box of truffles from a local chocolate shop. It was a valiant effort, but next year we're going to have to whip out the big guns.

In preparation for a busy week around the house, I maximized relaxation time this weekend. Most of my days were spent in slippers and sweats, only getting dressed when leaving the apartment was absolutely necessary (like beer and wings night for Valentines day).

We had a Risk extravaganza and Jesse kicked my butt again. I didn't really mind that he annihilated my army because I was "practicing" for our Belgium/Germany trip with Trappist ale. I think we will have to play Risk more often. It was a lot of fun.

The rest of the weekend pretty much revolved around sewing and cooking. My work space at the beginning of the week was a mess, so I started by cleaning up a bit.

I found out this week that my grandfather was diagnosed with leukemia. He's been sick for a while, so the diagnosis is more of a definite answer to a series of symptoms than a surprise -- nonetheless, it was shocking. I don't think the news quite set in until this weekend and as a result, I spent a lot of therapeutic ironing time, just thinking. There's something incredibly calming and satisfying about a giant stack of ironed, folded fabric. Don't you think?

I started playing around again with circles and some new color combinations. I've always been drawn to more primary and secondary colors for quilts, but decided it's time to branch out a little. I've been inspired lately by greens and browns and even orange. So, welcoming the tertiary spectrum into the sewing room has been a nice change. I have no idea where this one is going, but I am the queen of multiple projects!


Finally, finishing up the long weekend, I made a delicious dinner. I cheated a bit on the fish (it was marinated at Trader Joe's and quite tasty), but the sides were all homemade with love. We've been on a bit of a dark leafy greens kick, so accompanying the fish was swiss chard sauteed with mushrooms and onions, and creamy lima beans. The beans were made with the The Picayune's Creole Cookbook recipe and were even tastier than the first batch I made a few weeks ago.

Speaking of the Picayune, Fat Tuesday is on February 24th! That doesn't give me a lot of time to experiment with King Cake before the Lenten season begins. Not that I participate in Lent, but maybe it will be a motivator to try out some baking this week. I also have to make another round of granola, as Jesse has nearly made his way through my first batch. Needless to say, it's tasty!

Weekend Outing

I have been on a hunt for a couch. No, the perfect couch. Not perfect in terms of bright, shiny and new, but a perfect fit for my criteria: good "bones," cheap (but lacking pee stains), no longer than 70 inches, and not terribly heavy.

Apparently that couch does not exist (at least not in Portland). After nearly two weeks of searching on Craigslist and a dazed Friday afternoon trip to Ikea, J pointed out that I might want to consider a paradigm shift with regards to furnishing our apartment. Feeling defeated and a bit overwhelmed, we each flopped down into a POÄNG chair. At that moment, J came up with a brilliant idea. We could just sit on chairs. Duh. It never occurred to either of us that we don't need a couch.

Saturday morning I woke up invigorated and ready to find another awesome chair. We ditched the plans to drive to Tillamook to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and instead went to a nearby second hand store to check out a chair that had been posted on Craigslist the night before. It wasn't as comfortable as I had hoped, so I decided not to take it. I was bummed, but still optimistic. J suggested that we stop by another store we had visited our first week in Portland to see if there were any new arrivals (or if this one chair that had caught my eye might still be around). And it was. And I got a pretty good price. Obviously it needs some love, both on the wooden frame and the cushions, but it was a great excuse for an outing. So, we decided to ditch the car and take our bikes for a spin.

First we stopped at the library to check out some furniture restoration books and then headed to the largest fabric store I have ever seen. J was even impressed at the magnitude. (For those of you who are starting to feel sorry for J, you know, for spending his anniversary weekend chauffeuring my butt around shopping for furniture and fabric, just wait. I redeem myself.)

Fabric stores of this size are never located downtown, so our bike ride was nice and long. And by long, I mean 16 miles round trip, which made J a very happy man. We were gone for about four hours and I was pooped and sweaty by the time we got home. However, I was extremely happy because we found the perfect fabric for my chair (and I rode my bike for 16 miles).

Even though our Saturday included stops at the library AND a fabric store, I think J would agree that it was a really great day. I'm so glad we decided to go together on our bikes. We saw the city from a completely different perspective and it made this Saturday seem like our first real weekend as residents of Portland.

The Furniture Game

Before we left D.C., Jesse and I sold a bunch of our stuff on Craigslist. With the proceeds, we set up a few different ING Direct savings accounts earmarked for purchases we would likely make once in Portland. All book sale proceeds went to the "E and J Savings" account, which was the largest account and pretty much paid for our move and will help pay for living expenses, new bikes, etc. Furniture sales went into the "Furniture Fund" and when Jesse got a performance merit award at work we set up a "Stereo Fund."

Jesse didn't spend the full amount set aside for his receiver, so his funds were redirected to support the purchase of furniture. The rules of the game are pretty straightforward: purchase as much furniture for the house while staying within the $609 budget allotted in the "Furniture Fund." Exempted from the game is anything purchased for Jesse's home office. So far I feel pretty good with how things have developed:

My Chair: Purchased for $89 at a consignment store in Portland. It's a solid chair that rocks and swivels, and is the perfect size for me. Also, it is totally cute. Yes, the fabric makes me sweat in 90 degree weather, but that will be remedied someday. Jesse said with my first paycheck I should treat myself to a new pair of awesome shoes - I think I'd much have a nail gun and air compressor.

Our Bed: Purchased on Craigslist for $125. Reason it is rad? It's solid wood and not Ikea. Other than sustaining irreparable knee, shin, and toe damage from running into the end posts, I have no complaints. (Well, maybe except for the dirty laundry that keeps piling up nearby.)

Kitchen Cart: Purchased for $56 at Ikea. Even though we have tons of built-in cabinets in the kitchen, we seriously have zero prep space. This was one of the first things we purchased after taking an initial scan of the apartment. Now there's room for one person to chop and mix while the other cooks or bakes.

Metal storage rack: Purchased on Craigslist for $25. Again, the kitchen has tons of built-in cabinets, but I was astonished at the amount of kitchen items that we unpacked. I think they may have multiplied in the storage crate. The shelf will provide a little extra storage space for things that won't fit directly in the kitchen.

That leaves me with $314. I'm a little nervous because I still need a couch AND kitchen chairs. The couch will likely eat up most of the remaining budget.

Will I win the game? Or fail miserably? You vote.