soft-weather has a new home!

http://www.soft-weather.com/ http://www.soft-weather.com/ http://www.soft-weather.com/

I've got a shiny new domain of my own now :)

Make sure to subscribe to my new feed, etc!

thanks,

-Aly

Tuesday Love

I can't believe it's already Tuesday again. Time: please slow down a little!

Anyway, let's get right to the lovin'.

Cross Stitched Heart Notebook - Yellow

1. The lovely Kyla Roma has just launched her new etsy shop, A Little Thistle, and you really should check out the cute headbands, notebooks, pins, scarves, and necklaces. My favorite is this little cross stitched heart notebook. Thanks Kyla!

2. I've started collecting plastic drinking straws for this rad looking light fixture project from Aunt Peaches. You can find the how-to here.

3. And speaking of drinking, I went to Richmond recently to visit my brother's girlfriend, and that's where I tried cheerwine for the first time. Love! It's got this super-cherry taste and it's extra bubbly-fizzy.

Stripe Wrist Warmers - Brown and Turquoise

4. I want a pair of these striped wrist warmers from etsy seller SheepishKnitCrochet. Really great colors.

5. Last night I made dinner for my mother and Clay, after which we watched 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' and ate caramel apples. Dinner with loved ones is wonderful. Apples + caramel are just as wonderful.

Chalkboard Gift Tags - Set of 12

6. These chalkboard gift tags from PlayingGrownUp would be great for labeling jars of jam or presents.

7. You know what's really wonderful? Like, really, really wonderful? We're picking out a pumpkin tonight/tomorrow. So ridiculously excited.

Kitty is thinking about petting. Which is her main activity besides sleeping.

8. My boyfriend's cat is wonderful. She's so polite. And so wonderfully chubby.

9. The japanese maple in our yard has looked particularly beautiful lately.

10. Love this polaroid magnet frame how-to over at paper n stitch.

*****

I've been busy preparing to open my etsy shop lately, doing lots of crafting and gathering of materials and whatnot. It's very exciting! I look forward to the day when someone will open up a package from me and find something inside that will make their life a little prettier. Until then, posts may be sparse.

love,

Aly

Happy Friday! Milk + Honey

I love honey. I don't know if you've ever come across one of those people who likes something so much that they'll put it in/on just about anything? I'm like that with honey. Which is why when I heard someone mention 'hot milk and honey' the other day, I just about lost it. How had I not thought of that before?? I've even read the bible a few times, but I suppose the phrase 'milk and honey' just never connected in my brain as things you could eat together.

A few nights ago I tried it out. I microwaved an 8 ounce glass of milk for 30 seconds, then drizzled a little honey in it, and then continued to microwave it for 30 seconds. (I waited to stir the honey in until I had microwaved it the second time, so it could get real nice and hot-like). Seriously? You need to try this, at least once in your life. If you drink soy milk, you're still going to have to try it with that, because this stuff is magical. It's so warm and smooth and sweet, without being too sweet. I've made it every day since. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but for now, we'll say yes.

Tuesday = 10 Wonderful Things!

I am a big believer in the importance of a tradition or two. A tradition can help you feel grounded and calm when maybe everything else in your life isn't going too smoothly. While I don't know if coming up with 10 things I love every Tuesday is going to help you (although I really hope it does!), I know myself and I know that I need routines. And with that, my esteemed friends, I give you:

In no particular order:

1. I think cooking is wonderful. Even when I mess up.

2. The whale shark is my number one, all time favorite animal.

I think large marine animals are awesome.

3. Being kind of dumb is wonderful, every once in a while. 

Or more often, if you happen to be me.

4. My brother. He's wonderful (my dad is too).

I'm very excited to see him next week. He's in the army, and he has

just a little bit of time here before he has to go to Germany.

5. Bluuuueeberries! I cannot be trusted around them; they are

too wonderful.

6. The Magnetic Fields are my favorite band.

7. Snow is super wonderful. I wish it snowed more here, we're lucky if

we get a few days of it.

8. France is wonderful. I've been taking French classes for about 4 years now,

and I plan on going back someday. 

9. I think it's wonderful to be organized! I had pretty bad ADD growing up,

and within the last few years I've worked really hard to build routines and stick

to them, and to organize my life and my time. It's actually really helpful.

10. Ok, this one is the most wonderful. This is my boyfriend.

I think Clay is pretty wonderful. The skip in my step, so to speak.

Today's actually 9 months for us.

 

And that about does her! Today's picks were kind of like an ice breaker between you and me; I just focused on the basic things that I think tell a lot about me. Unfortunately, we learned more about me here than you, but hopefully you'll comment on this and tell me some things you think are wonderful, too.What do you think is wonderful?

There was a cloud in my house today

Ok, so in my last post I gushed about the arrival of fall weather. When I wrote that, I had forgotten how much it rains around here in early fall. Like, a lot. It looked like the setting of an English novel out there today. Plus I've been alone pretty much all day, so there's been this overwhelmingly  lethargic feeling in the house. Even the cat is being kind of mellow, which is extremely out of character for him. The point is, I got very little done, unless you count listening to a lot of NPR and The Flaming Lips as getting stuff done, which most people don't. I ate very little, and then this evening I tried to make chocolate chip meringues. The batter must have somehow known today's theme, because it came out very soupy. I gave up.

But most importantly, I made nothing today. Every time I sat down at my little craft table, I felt unwelcome there. The room was too dim, too cold, or too stuffy, so I had to leave. Is there something wrong with me? How could I spend the entire day doing so little?

Logically, I know there's nothing really wrong with me. Everyone has blah days, but I hate feeling like I've lost the battle. Because in the end, I think I did. I could have overcome the mood and seized the day, and maybe then I'd have something interesting to talk about with you. But, alas. So I'll end with a question. What do you do to get out of the foggy, do-nothing kind of mood? What are your best tips? I'm very interested.

The Zooey

I decided to try my hand at a pincushion yesterday. I didn't get to finish it yesterday because I had to go have some fun at my friend's house, so I was very happy to finish it up this morning. I call it "The Zooey", and when I open my Etsy shop on the 15th, you'll be able to take her home! And stick pins in her. Please be gentle.

This week it rained for 3 days. Around here it floods pretty bad after even a normal amount of rain, so you can imagine the mayhem that accompanied the tropical storm. A woman on Monticello Avenue had to be rescued by boat, man, it was pretty ridiculous. But I'm so glad now that it did pour like it did, because last night as I went to get a glass of water before bed, I felt a cool breeze rush in from an open window. And this morning I awoke to pure blue skies, more brisk gusts of wind, and the sounds of crows (admittedly not the most enjoyable of noises, but welcome for what they represent nonetheless). I wanted to do something to celebrate the arrival of fall, my favorite season, so this pincushion is decorated with red, yellow, and goldenrod leaves and a bright and happy sunburst on the top. And with this one little project, I say goodbye to stifling humidity and hot vinyl car seats, and a big hello to crunchy leaves and sweater-weather.

You know what this means. It's apple crisp time. ;)

A More User Friendly Option?

a.etsy.new.layout2, originally uploaded by Fairy Garden.
I find this user-created idea of the layout to be the most shopper-friendly look yet.

Ok, so the Etsy team's been very busy working on revamping the shop and listings layouts. I'm sure you've noticed yourself; some of the changes I actually think are kind of neat, such as the new, super-large versions of item photos.

However, I don't feel the same about the new shop front at all. The new format of listing the items just looks too plain to me, with the descriptions listed vertically, and a tiny thumbnail of the item on the left. The eye is drawn not to the item photo as it should be, but to the number of times the item has been viewed. It's just awkward looking. How can the shop front look as cohesive as it might have previously? Before, you could incorporate similar colors in your photos' backgrounds and match them to your banner, et voila; a very nice looking shop! But now, I'm afraid that since the photos are so tiny and stand out so little, that idea won't really have the same effect.

Personally, I hope they poll us on the new layouts. I've been browsing the forums, and this topic is getting a lot of attention. People are split on the matter, but very passionate nonetheless. What do you think?