A Thousand Threads

Self portrait project // 7

In Maryland, I get a lot of PNW rain jokes, even legitimate concern – “if you ever moved back, do you think you could take it? Could Mark?”

But after a few years on the east coast, I have to be honest; I think you’re all living with Stockholm syndrome.

In Oregon, sure, it rains in the winter. Mostly it’s grey. But I never once owned an umbrella, and looking back I realize that the missive, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” is repeated more often than any complaint.

Here, folks complain all year long, but when it comes down to it, their suffering goes so much deeper than any silly complaint. They’ve grown to love those bastard seasons that hold them captive.

5 Comments | Posted on: March 16, 2015 | Category: 52 Self Portraits, Adventures

Hoecakes with cream cheese and golden plum jam

My two truths and a lie trump card is that as a junior in high school, I spent a full year traveling to rodeos across Oregon as the Coos County Fair & Rodeo Queen.

… I’ll wait while you compose yourself.

I know it sounds silly now, but it was a huge honor. I grew up a 4-H kid, and had been riding competitively since I was eight. In my small circle of horsey friends, the rodeo queen was practically a goddess. I dreamed of the moment I could compete for that crown, and never thought for a moment I’d win.

The competition includes a speech, an interview, and multiple riding tests… so it’s not easy. And my horse was never exactly a winner. A stout little reining pony built for driving cattle, we’d been together since she was two… and I was so proud of her. But she never quite fit in with the more polished and calm, and more-common-in-4-H, western pleasure winners. She was quick and scrappy… and despite her desperate hatred of parades (I understood) I think she was always meant to carry the queen.

She swept me through the competition with grace, and I managed to do her justice in the only way I knew how, by standing up in front of a whole lot of people and blathering on.

4 Comments | Posted on: March 12, 2015 | Category: Recipes

Dreamweave photo DIY with timeshel

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and timeshel, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #timeshelprints http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Mark and I are terrible about printing our photos… which is especially a shame, since we’re constantly snapping. Our computers and phones are full of wonderful memories, but as much as we love to have prints, we never can remember to put in the order.

That’s why we’re loving timeshel, a new subscription service that allows you to sign up to have your latest photos printed once a month.

timeshel offers two levels of subscription. You can sign up for 10 prints a month that come in a nifty envelope for just $5.95, or 30 prints a month — which come in their super durable and handy shel — for $14.95.

It’s fun to decide which pictures to print, and easy, since it’s all contained in one simple app.

Hopefully the monthly reminder will mean we print and keep a whole lot more of our memories from here on out — and this simple diy will make it easy to display our favorites close to our workspace, just so we never forget.

timeshel is only available for iOs, but it’s easy to download in the Apple Store. Be sure to check it out if you’re anything like us, it’s such a shame to let those memories just sit on your phone.

0 Comments | Posted on: March 9, 2015 | Category: Adventures, DIY

Self portrait project // 6 + Links

I may not have been properly warned about how terrible it is to sell a house… waiting, wondering, unable to make the next move until it’s sold… but hey, at least there’s coffee.

Lately we’ve been focused on what to do next. Stay where we are? Move closer to the city? Pack it all up in a van and hit the road? Personally I’m gunning for the van, but the dog disagrees.

Meanwhile, we’re working on something for this space that gets more exciting each day… a rebrand and redesign that will bring more of our projects under one roof and give us a solid direction. Nothing huge will change — don’t worry — but we’ll be able to offer so much more… and I truly can’t wait for you to see what’s been shaping up behind the scenes.

For now… I hear the sun will be sticking around for an extra hour today, which, if you have to be stuck in purgatory, is a pretty good way to go… thank god for spring, and thank god for new adventures to come.

… whenever they come. We’ll be here.

Hummingbird High’s gorgeous kitchen remodel.

This diy moon phase mobile.

Chronicles of a self-professed “comma queen.”

House of Bricks.

10 food-themed audiobooks.

5 podcasts to improve your commute.

This perfect gathering.

These poufs.

These posters.

2 Comments | Posted on: March 8, 2015 | Category: 52 Self Portraits, Adventures

Meyer lemon pasta with mustard seed and turmeric

Great love can open your eyes and make the world seem new… and pasta and I, I’m not afraid to say it, we’re one of the greats.

Our love affair began at a young age… first with buttered noodles and mac & cheese, then gnocchi and lasagna. To this day, I can’t for the life of me understand why my father has never taken a liking to lasagna.

0 Comments | Posted on: March 4, 2015 | Category: Recipes

How to shape your own cavatelli and fettuccine

If there’s one thing that prevented us from making our own pasta in the past, it was the (totally misguided) feeling that we wouldn’t be able to do it without going out and spending a whole bunch of money on that KitchenAid attachment everyone seems to have. When push came to shove, we never could justify the cost (sort of like the ice cream maker I’m dying to buy…), no matter how much we wanted it.

We went way too long before we realized how silly it was to hang all of our pasta dreams on a silly piece of equipment — in reality, it’s easy to make pasta with nothing more than your own hands.

… and some pretty killer pasta, at that.

The attachment is still on the wish list, of course. But now, at least we know we can get by without it. And we definitely do.

Here’s how…

5 Comments | Posted on: March 2, 2015 | Category: DIY, Recipes

Self portrait project // 5 + Links

That’s it guys… I’m done. The snow can melt. Spring can come.

We’ve had all the fun we can have.

11 skills every amateur chef should learn.

Joan.

This awesome cheat sheet.

A Sunday gathering.

Because bacon.

Make a custom rubber stamp.

This bedside.

3 Comments | Posted on: March 1, 2015 | Category: 52 Self Portraits, Adventures, Link Love

How to make your own pasta from scratch

All of the best food words come from Julia. I think of her every time I grab for a bottle of wine or get my hands all up in a pretty plated dish. She talks me through my most favorite moments in the kitchen, and she talks me through my least… but the words I find myself repeating most are, “…nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.”

One of the most memorable meals we’ve ever had was made so in part by handmade pasta so perfect it needed nothing more than a bit of butter to blow our minds. We’ve talked about that meal at least once a week since, and we’ve dreamed about perfecting our own technique.

Handmade pasta is like handmade bread… it simply can’t be beat. The undertaking can feel daunting, and I’m not going to say it’s easy (anything that involves kneading probably shouldn’t be called easy) but it’s nowhere near the complicated process you’d think. And the reward is beyond compare…

5 Comments | Posted on: February 27, 2015 | Category: DIY, Recipes

Saffron leek soup

We all have our little pleasures. Manicures, lunches out, fancy espresso… they’re the things that make the day to day just that much better (or more bearable). And it’s for exactly that reason that we’re willing to spend a good chunk of our hard-earned money on them.

For Mark and I, hands down, our little pleasure is food. When we’re able (and probably even when we’re not) the answer to where our money goes first is almost always food. Things like paper towels and cleaning supplies will drive me up a wall every time I have to replenish, but a nice bottle of wine, a creamy chunk of cheese, fresh herbs and spices… those, I can always justify.

2 Comments | Posted on: February 24, 2015 | Category: Recipes

Self portrait project // 4 + Links

This is a pretty accurate depiction of the last week… wrapped up in every scarf, hat, and blanket we have in an effort to escape the cold that somehow manages to seep in no matter the number on the thermostat.

Beyond the cold, we’ve been riding the roller coaster of emotions that is selling/buying a house… with some not so good news. The house we fell in love with (despite ourselves, since they wouldn’t take a contingent offer and here we are with a house…) sold out from under us. We weren’t worried, since it had been on the market for over a year and the agent had assured us she’d be in contact if there were any offers…

6 Comments | Posted on: February 20, 2015 | Category: 52 Self Portraits, Link Love

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