Love Bugs

I can't help but giggle when I see this commercial. The last part is the funniest though.

Delectable

I cam across the blog The Dinner Files via my friend's blog post. This particular postreally struck me even though I don't have children. I've always felt that the best way kids learn to like something is a simple non-reaction to it. I mean, if you tell a kid that it's good for them or make a big deal out of a certain type of food you want them to enjoy, they will likely turn away from it. Of course, if you just enjoy it then they'll want to do as their parent does. The same goes for bumps and scrapes. I've witnessed several instances when a child bumps their head or falls down where parents rush to them with that, "Oh, dear! Are you okay? Awe, sweetie, I'm sorry!" all while their kid is crying it's head off with no actual injury to themselves. But on the flip side, on few occasions, I've also witnessed parents who just "do" when something happens. I feel that if you can have this reaction you'll teach your kid not to freak out about situations in life in general. They'll have a calmer approach to things and maybe have a little less stress in life. I mean, if a kid bumps his head and there is no injury to him at all, their reaction is really just the shock that they hit their head and not that they hurt themselves. Maybe my thought process is off, but I truly believe that's the case. I've seen it a million times thanks to my job location. Thoughts?

Personally, just enjoy the wonderful blog post as I want to eat everything this woman describes. I'm also adding her to my list of wonderful blogs to read regularly. :)

Passing Breezes

I watched the wind and the rain today. I watched the wind as it changed directions and moved the trees to suit its needs. The trees stood tall and proud like soldiers until the wind mussed up their leaves like an older brother ruffles his sibling's hair. They amaze us being able to withstand the earth's storms with little to no damage to themselves. While they don't all survive, they endure and grow upward without being bothered by life's adversities. Their trunks grow stronger and their rings reflect their trials, but still they grow. Their roots hold onto to what is stable knowing that the harder they try the more strength they will have. We use them, but they do not care for then they are useful. I watched the wind as it stirred the trees today and then I knew. I just knew.

Food Movies

Chocolat is one of those hidden gems that is maybe not so hidden. I fell in love with this movie when I saw it in college and it is such a warming story. Plus, I want to eat the hot chocolate out of the mug.

Like Water for chocolate is another fantastic movie with food as the running theme. I have actually only seen this movie once, but I remember how colorful it was. I also remember it was kind of sad. Plus, as an added bonus there is some knitting going on in this movie. Well the knitting lasts for a "long time". (drum symbol crash) Yeah, if you've seen it you know what I mean. What's nice about this movie is that it has a book counterpart. I have no read it, but as always, read the book because there are probably details in it that make it amazing that the movie just can't capture.

Eat Drink Man Woman is one of my favorites. I have no idea why I don't own this on DVD yet. The whole story is centered around food and family. The food that the family cooks for a Sunday dinner is BEAUTIFUL. It makes me so hungry and I cannot imagine the amount of labor that goes into those meals. There is a lot of attention to detail in this film as well which is always something I look for.

Waitress needs no introduction. I already mentioned that this is a wonderful movie, but I wish I had half the genius that the woman in this movie has with pies. Plus, it makes me want dessert really badly. I just never knew there was so man different kinds of pies.

The Secret of the Green Papaya is a Korean movie with very little dialogue. In fact, I think there is very little going on. From what I remember of it there isn't that much cooking and the green papayas don't actually make an appearance until the last 5 minutes of the movie. They have no bearing on the plot, but check it out anyway. The main character does a lot of serving of food so it could fall into this genre.

Why are they all mostly about desserts? Regardless, they are all delectable. These definitely make me want to eat locally more often, too. :)

Waitress

"I hope someday somebody wants to hold you for 20 minutes straight and that's all they do. They don't pull away. They don't look at your face. They don't try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms and hold on tight, without an ounce of selfishness in it.”

Character of Jenna Hunterson played by Keri Russell in Waitress

Sometimes this is exactly how I feel when I want hugs. This is the absolute best way to describe how a hug can make me feel. I'm not saying that I'm in need of hugs right now, but I love how Keri Russell's character puts this into words. As humans, touch is so important to our every day lives and a huge part of our development when we are children. It's amazing how this seemingly simple form of connection between persons can affect how we interact and handle our emotions as adults. Do you agree?

p.s. Please just watch this movie. It's another one of those food movies that you just have to watch. More on that in another post.

Little Notes

With all the different jobs I've had, at some point or another thoughts have popped in my head unrelated to work. That being the case I need some place to write them down and random paper scraps tend to fall prey to my scribblings. I came across something I wrote once while trapped at the cashwrap at "the book store".

"I will shelve until my hands become so dry they start to split and bleed. I will rearrange to my heart's desire. I will alphabetize until my vision is blurred and I have to do it with my eyes closed. I will smile cordially to customers til the cows come home and my mouth begins to hurt. My face will be frozen from so much smiling. I will sticker, mark-down, move books from one table to another, and place special orders at the drop of a hat. I will fend off Harry Potter fans with my bare hands while pointing customers to the right section. I can PDT the children's section in half an hour as well as hand sell Qualitative Reading Inventory-3 to illiterate 2-year-olds."

Apparently I ran out of steam and time because that's all there is. I remember writing down a lot of things when I worked for "the bookstore". Of course, when I was straightening particular sections I would keep a little notebook with me so I could write down book titles when they struck my fancy. Then I would create these incredibly long lists of books that I wanted to look at more thoroughly and check them out of the library to decide if I wanted to purchase them or not. Ah, good times.

I Can't Hear You

"There are more than 500,000 words in the English language, but a person who masters only 250 words will recognize more than two-thirds of all words shown in television captions—provided the 250 words are those that are most frequently used. Equally dramatic, a beginning reader could be taught just 10 words—the, you, to, a, I, and, of, in, it, that—and then recognize more than one out of every five words. Mastery of the top 79 words means being able to read half of all words captioned." Source: Perspectives in Education and Deafness, Volume 16, Number 1, September/October 1997

I was reading this on an ASL website today and it really struck a chord with me. I was trying to assist a hearing impaired customer the other day and I felt awful that I couldn't remember my signs for her. Thankfully, I was able to give her directions and I was able to understand what she was saying to me. The bad part is that I can read sign (sort of), but responding is very difficult for me. I took an ASL course in college and probably would have enjoyed it more had the teacher not had a propensity for meanness because she was deaf. She is what I would call a deaf person with a chip on her shoulder. She definitely felt like she was entitle to be rude because she was deaf and that hearing people aren't worthy of her knowledge. I liked the design of the course because it is a very involved kind of learning. Given the chance to do it again, I would absolutely try harder and become more involved in the deaf community. I really want to be able to communicate more effectively with the deaf customers that come to the store and I think I'm going to teach myself signs again. I always failed at fingerspelling, but I'm going to practice to and from work while in the car. That suggestion from my ASL class has always stuck with me, so I'll try it to become more adept at it. But for now, try thiswebsite as a great resource to begin learning a little ASL.

In the mean time you can try to figure out a sign name for yourself. To be a true sign name it should actually be given to you by somebody who is deaf. I'm lucky because I have been given one! It's a combination of the sign for beautiful and the letter of my first name. Isn't that sweet?

I'm addicted...so don't tell anyone.

I read this article the other day on Etsy. I'm convinced that once I start to sell on Etsy, this will be me. Or rather, that will be my significant other. I can't wait. I'm pushing myself to do amazing things at home so I will have the freedom to be my own boss. I'm trying to do some more sewing just to get some practice in. So I'm going to make simple things to work on my finishing techniques.

This was a simple place mat that I made for a friend. I was going to bring it over to her last night and even had it in my purse, but I'm glad I didn't. It didn't work out exactly how I planned. I need to make the silverware pocket smaller to holder her utensils, and the loop doesn't fit around the entire napkin roll. Ah, well. That'll teach me to use a pattern or at least take some measurements.



Let me know what you think of my sewing projects so I can get better at them.

Oh, and I found a great video online from Threadbanger about how to draw croquis.


Of course, I can't draw worth a lick, but I'll try it if it means I can start to design some clothes to wear for myself. I have a bunch of material and some old clothes that I'd like to revamp.

These were my attempts at drawing a croquis. Like I said, I do not like drawing, but I want to try something completely outside of my box to start honing in on my sewing skills. And I'm sure you've noticed that I have no skill for drawing either. I don't want to start designing purses or bags without a template because I think it'd be slightly unprofessional. Of course, from everything I've ready about Etsy sellers, they all have their own way of doing things. If you're interested in why I'm always so interested in what Etsy sellers have to say check out this series of articles that I am addicted to.
ENJOY!

Crafter fo' Evah'

I have been doing a lot outside of work these days. Well, I'd like to think that I am doing a lot outside of work. The reality is that I can't keep my apartment clean to organize my craftiness, but I'd rather take pictures of the few things I've been doing. I love making things and I'll always get joy out of that.

I'm really proud of the fact that I've actually grown something from seedlings and they haven't died yet. My mom sent me one of those all-in-one kits for some tomato and basil plants as a birthday gift. They're fool proof because it tells you how to grow them on the packaging and includes everything you need. I definitely do not have a green thumb, but growing these plants makes me want to grow some more.






I really want to start planting some other veggies. Because I live in an apartment, I don't have the luxury of planting anything I want. Actually, I don't have enough space in my windows to grow what I want. I think I'm going to attempt to grow lettuce because that's what I want the most.

I have also been itching to sew something. More specifically, I've been wanting to sew a purse. I can definitely make up my own own designs for purses, but I'm trying to try out different purses to become more familiar with purse construction in general. I also want to try all the different ways that other people construct purses to see what I like. The construction of some purses are easier to do than others, but also the finished product looks more polished on some than others. This is going to be the beginning of my purse making for my business. Good plan, huh? Well, I followed an online pattern from here. Let me tell you that those instructions are not easy to follow. I feel like some important steps were left out and some things could have been simplified to make it more understandable. But here is my finished purse none the less.

*EDIT* I forgot to tell all of you that I made this bag with recycled materials. It's not 100% recycled because the lining fabric was something my mom bought me in November, but the outer fabric is made from an Ikea pillowcase that I've had for awhile and it was just too itchy to sleep on. :) The buttons were some old ones that my mom sent me, too. :)




So, I'm going to take my mother's advice and buy a newspaper. I know it sounds odd when I'm talking about sewing purses and making my own designs. She's right though, newspaper paper is the BEST you can get to draft your own patterns. It's not as stiff as computer paper and there's a lot of it in one newspaper (yes, even in Maine there's enough sections to work with) to be able to draft many patterns at once. AWESOME! Wish me luck. I'll be back in a few days with some ideas. I might attempt some drawings even though I cannot draw to save my soul. :)