I've ordered a couple of really great prints recently:

Many Faces of Mook - I love grey skies

(My husband thinks this one is a bit creepy but I love it)

Poseidon letterpress calendar - Lizard Press

Luna letterpress calendar - Lizard Press
ALPHABET - beauchamping

(check out the close up photos on this one )

And the Philadelphia and San Francisco prints from Ork Posters.

In other news, we are getting a new roof put on our house this weekend, weather permitting. I will be sure to post some very exciting before/after shots if possible.

I am also running the Eagle National Bank 5k on Saturday morning. I'm hoping it doesn't suck as badly as the last one I did.

AND finally, I'm doing a bit of crafting. Been working on a cream felt pillow with rosettes based using this tutorial, I'll post pics soon. And remember this?

Probably not, it's been moldering in our back office since the last time the weather was cool. But I layered the quilt sandwich and have everything pinned together. I've officially moved into fly by the seat of my pants mode, because I've never quilted anything this big before and I'm not totally sure how to proceed. I'm hoping to figure it all out as I go.

I will leave you with this:

Knitting in Biology 101 - The Crafty Hedgehog

I'm controlling myself on this one; I want this badly but can't quite figure out an appropriate place for it to live in our house.

etsy jewelry

My stipend, once doled out twice a month, is now on a last-business-day-of-the-month schedule - I'm broke! No extra $$ for anything fun, like all of this great stuff I'm coveting from etsy. Jewelry first, but I'll try to do a post later this week about some of the clothing and housewares I'm stalking as well.

Calypso earrings - Bijou de chat

Horizon accent necklace - Verre encore

Opposites attract necklace - Ali Baubles

Pentacle pendant - Aula46

Pod hoop earrings - Yoola

Sea collection necklace - ERM originals

We finally took the plunge and had two chairs and a tiny loveseat reupholstered for in front of the fireplace. The furniture originally belonged to Ryan's great aunt and is probably from the 1950s. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm glad we didn't end up buying a new set.

I found the coffee table for $20 at a thrift store in Glenside - not bad! The wood isn't an exact match but I can't get over how perfectly sized it is for our little space.

It's had to see the fabric we chose for the couch - it's a grey/blue with red, gold and cream stripes. Perfect for the carpet, which was difficult to match. The chairs are covered with a textured gold fabric.

We also had luxuriously soft grey wool carpet installerd in one of the extra bedrooms, which is now pretty much completed. We're open for visitors if anyone wants to come this fall!

First 5k stats

Lehigh Valley half marathon and 5K in Allentown, PA
5-3-09
33:27 (10:46 minute mile)

I totally went into this one unprepared. I hadn't run in a week and the best I had done was 2.5 miles on a flat surface. My friend and I decided at the starting line that we would 1. Finish in less than 40 minutes and 2. Not finish last. So, mission accomplished.

Despite only finishing in the top 77% it was great fun! I've already signed up for another one in September, this time closer to home. My biggest mistake with this one was not knowing where the heck the end was - so it was hard to motivate myself. Next time - a carefully timed iPOD playlist so I have a better sense of how to pace myself. Because the next one is in Philly I'll be able to actually run the course beforehand.

around the house

Well. It has been a while, hasn't it? I think unfortunately lately Facebook has been a quicker way to post photos and share what we've been up to. Here's a quick update:

West Elm must have heard my fervent requests: the pin-tuck duvet cover is now available in white!

This is just what I've been looking for. We also got a couple of etchings up on the wall, thanks to these.

A few weeks ago we started a little garden behind the house, just outside of the kitchen window:

If all goes well, we will have romaine lettuce, swiss chard, peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes. We also have plans to dig out an ugly rock garden nearby and start an herb garden, but that hasn't happened yet. For now I have basil, mint and cilantro in pots on our patio, with plans to start some lemongrass soon.

Another recent activity of ours is searching for morels growing near the base of our enormous ash tree. We haven't been brave enough to eat any yet but I put a few in the freezer.

Tonight we're picking up some carpet samples for the currently linoleum-covered bedroom. We couldn't bring ourselves to buy anything acrylic, so we're going with wool despite the extra $$$. I

Ongoing project

We recently painted our bedroom a marigold yellow and finally had the floors sanded and refinished. This room sits in the center of our second floor and doesn't get a lot of light; I like the color - it's warm but still brightens up the space.

I'm going to go with a bright white duvet cover but haven't been able to figure out where to go with the rest of the room. I decided I needed some sort of colorful throw or quilt over the bottom of our bed to pull things together and get me started. I've been on the lookout for the last few weeks but haven't found anything I like, so yesterday I started to make a smallish quilt. First I set a few rules for myself:

1. Simple design, otherwise I know I won't finish it.

2. It has to use up fabric I already have

3. I want something that doesn't look too country

Here's what I have so far, I started by making a ~5 inch high stripe that would lay across the bottom of our bed. I laid everything out on top of a (wrinkly) white sheet so I could get some idea of how it would look once I buy the duvet cover:

Here is the view coming into our bedroom:

Here is my progress so far: a charcoal and white panel for the bottom part:

I think I would like to just make a solid charcoal panel for the top, but I don't have enough fabric. Not sure how it will end up but I'll probably cut up a white sheet for the back and binding, that seems like the simplest way to go.

Tampa 2009

We just got back from a relaxing long weekend in Tampa. A few highlights:

Dinner at Columbia Restaurant in historic Ybor City. Completely campy (Flamenco dancers) but fun!

Fort DeSoto and Fort De Soto Park

Albrecht Durer exhibit at The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg

And of course we ate well:

Golden Orchid Thai

L'Olivier in St. Petersburg for wine and crepes

Catch twenty-three

Brunch at Pinky's Diner

The Junction Ice Creamery & Coffee House (We ended up here because they sell Mike's brand key lime pie, which is supposedly the best in Florida. Ryan disagreed; the quest continues).