Filling My Well

Oh Boy! I only have two weeks of school, and 3 weeks left of work, and then more vacation! That means this week and next week will be crazy busy, making it hard to have very many exciting adventures. During these next two weeks it will also be more important than ever to fill my well in whatever ways I can to counteract the stress. So here are a few of the little ways I fill my well during these busy times:

* Deviating from my usual black tea and treating myself to a Gingerbread Latte {for more cute coffee cozies, check out my shop here}.

* Dancing like a madwoman {in the privacy of my own home} to fun music for 10 minutes here and there {a few fun suggestions: Matt & Kim, Weezer, or any fun 80's music you may have}.

* Taking mini vacations through my doodles to Amoeba Land.


* Thrift store shopping and wearing the cute thrift store finds to class and work {that's a 2-for-1 Fill Your Well Special!}.
* Reading all the fun, inspirational, and pretty blogs out there, and writing my own!

* Popping in to steal kisses from the boyfriend on my way home from class or when running errands.

* Playing with my adorable and spunky kitty who really likes to hide and issue surprise attacks!
What little things do you do to fill your well?

Thanksgiving Adventures!

Can you believe tomorrow is December and it's officially the Christmas season?! Wow! Time goes by so fast...

I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving vacation. I stayed home in SF and Dannon's brother and girlfriend came to visit from SoCal. Unfortunately I had to get some work done Thanksgiving morning, but I stopped in time to make 2 delicious pies and then took the rest of the weekend off to run around the city and play.

Here's our Thanksgiving Dinner table full of delicious food Dannon made:We had some fun with decorations thanks to free printables by Vale Design and Elsie:

It was a delightful meal shared with family and friends!

The rest of the weekend we showed our guests around the city.
On Haight Street I found an adorable little dress and this giant paper mache cartoony man in the window of someone's house {click the pic for better viewing}:In Chinatown I found these super cute owl mugs:

And in the Mission we played in the Pirate Store {founded by Dave Eggers}, the gorgeous Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids store,

and found the actual Max suit from the movie Where the Wild Things Are:We also took them to the Golden Gate Bridge {I love this shot of the bridge's shadow on the water},Twin Peaks, the Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf, swing dancing in the park, and some of our favorite restaurants.
What a great time we had. It was exactly the break I needed to get ready for the last two weeks of school. Hope everyone else had a blast over the holiday and got home safely!

Gratitude - Thanksgiving!

Today I am Thankful for:

* My family and friends
* My health
* A clean and organized little home {phew!}
* Living in such a fun city and finally having time to enjoy it this week
* The technology to stay close to my loved ones far away
* Gingery Apple Crumb Pie and all our other yummy food!
* A nice long break from school and work
* All the memories we'll be making this holiday
* And of course, my camera to catch those memories!

Dannon and I will be making dinner for D's brother & girlfriend, and a couple other friends. It should be a fun orphan thanksgiving. And then, lots of adventuring around our beautiful city! Hope you all are with people you love having a great holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Pretties & Freebies - Thanksgiving!

I've seen so many pretty things this week that I thought would make perfect holiday gifts. But I've decided to stay strong and not do anything christmasy until after thanksgiving. So tune in next week for a "Pretties & Freebies - Gifts" post. As for this week, here are a few of my favorite pretty Thanksgiving things:

These Roly Poly vintage highball glasses from At Home With Henry, perfect for a special Thanksgiving toast:
These beautiful driftwood candle holders for mixing about the feast, by Nature's Cabinet:

And this adorable little number from Posh Girl Vintage. Oh how I wish this were my special Thanksgiving Day dress!

Thanksgiving Freebie!:

Here are some super cute printable place cards for your Thanksgiving Dinner, created by Vale Design.

You can download these for your dinner guests here:
I am Thankful and We Are Thankful.

And since it's the day before Thanksgiving and many of you are probably rushing about cleaning and preparing, I decided to post a fun "Cleaning the House for Thanksgiving Day Guests" playlist. Enjoy!

DIY T-Shirt Necklace

Last week I got crafty with an old t-shirt and made a fun necklace. I received a bunch of compliments on it so I figured I would post a tutorial so others could enjoy this easy little project.

Step 1. Take an old t-shirt that you don't mind cutting up {soft, knit jersey's, like American Apparel shirts, work best}, and cut strips about 2" x 4". I made 16 strips, but you could do more if you wanted it to look fuller.

Step 2. Roll strips so they are long and set aside.

Step 3. Cut two long strips about 16" or so. These will be the "chain" of your necklace, so if you want it to hang lower cut longer strips. Roll these like you did with the short strips.

Step 4. Sew one of the long end strips to a short strip.

Step 5. Continue to sew all the short strips together until it is as full as you want it to look.

Step 6. Once you have all the strips you want sewed together, sew on the other long end strip.

Step 7. Trim the edge strips to be a bit shorter than the middle strips. This step is totally optional. If you have a super full necklace it may look cool to leave them all the same length.

Step 8. Viola! Wear and enjoy the compliments.

Well...

This weekend was not full of very many adventures. I did a little bit of music, a little bit of creating, and I got to attend a 3 year old's birthday party {which was by far the highlight of my weekend - it was so fun!}. But most of my weekend was spent cleaning, organizing, purging unnecessary belongings, homework, and errands. Blah! I suppose that is to be expected since it's the weekend before a holiday and big break from school and work. So that's okay. Later this week I hope to have some big adventures showing Dannon's brother and his girlfriend around the city.

I've also been collecting some yummy looking recipes for Thanksgiving dinner. So far I'm thinking about these Honey Corn Bread Muffins:

or these Garlicky Mashed Potatoes with Thyme:
or maybe these Herbed Baked Sweet Potatoes:

They all look so good! I'm also open to any suggestions if anyone has a favorite Thanksgiving recipe.

Gratitude

Looking back over my life, one of the best practices I had was journaling the things for which I was thankful at the end of each day. No matter how awful my day was, it was comforting, and even liberating, to acknowledge the blessings. So I thought I would add a new little series to my blog, publicly acknowledging the blessings throughout my week. And just maybe this will help create a heart that's a little more open to God and the kind acts of others.

This week was especially rough so I figured this morning was the perfect time to think about my blessings. This week I'm thankful for {in no particular order}:

* That super cute, highly excitable puppy on my way to work.
* Singing my heart out, strumming on the ole mandolin, and making lovely music with friends.
* Clean sheets day.
* A boyfriend who is very patient with me.
* Moments of epiphanies, clarity, and inspiration.
* My cat saving my life from a scary spider.
* Ahem... Glee. aka - things that make me laugh really hard out loud, even though I'm all by myself.
* Old-school Weezer songs.
* A free gym where I can run all the stress out.
* All the conversations I've had with family and friends, whether it was about serious things or just day to day conversation, it was all really meaningful and brightened my week!

{backpacking in the grand canyon, one of my most exciting adventures and one of my top Big Picture Gratitude item}

Love Notes

Dear Love,

Now that we live so close, I can save money on postage stamps!

Dear Love,
Thanks for helping me check for spiders so I could sleep.

Dear Love,
Remember the other night when you came over and had tea while we cuddled by the heater and listened to Bowerbirds? That was so lovely.

Dear Love,
Thanks for carrying home my heavy bag of juice from the grocery store when I was tired and having a bad day.

Dear Love,
You are my favorite!

Noah and the Whale

I think Noah and the Whale are:

* Sweet
* Lovely
* Romantic
* Perfect for nights in by the fire.
* Or riding in a car through the country.

Don't believe me? Have a listen for yourself.

Sigh... {again...}

Maybe it's because it's officially "The Holiday Season," or maybe it's because of whatever universal rule which states that when you have absolutely NO spending money you suddenly desire all sorts of Things. Whatever the reason, here are some of the items on the In-My-Wildest-Dreams Wish List:

This way cool suitcase chair by Katie Thompson:
{found here}

This brilliant postcard mug by Bailey Doesn't Bark:

This adorable fox hat {I LOVE Foxes!} by Polka Dot Robot:

And now, some freebies to make us all feel better!

This week I've been looking for some yummy recipes to make for Thanksgiving dinner next week {can you believe Thanksgiving's next week?!} Right now I just have a pile of random paper filled with recipes, so I've done a little searching for some cute and FREE recipe templates. Here's what I've found.

Prettiness from Vale Design:
Colorfulness from Messy Vegetarian Cook:
And some Kimbirdyness!
I got into the spirit of things and made my own recipe cards! Feel free to right-click, save, and print these for your own recipes if you'd like.
{Just don't make money off them or claim them as your own creations please.} Also, don't forget to check out my new etsy shop full of cute felt goodies!

Grand Opening of My Etsy Shop!

That's right! I've been talking about this for a good long while now, but it's finally here! My etsy shop, Kimbirdy Felt Goodies, is officially open for business. Right now you can find a pretty big selection of flower pins, crazy shaped geo pins, and coffee cozies. {I hope to add some hair pins, ipod cases, and macbook covers in the near future.}

You can find my shop by clicking here: Kimbirdy Felt Goodies.

Have a look around my shop and you may find something fun for yourself or a gift for a loved one. Christmas is right around the corner after all...

I would love help spreading the word, so please pass this on to others, and thanks!

You are a creative person... seriously!

One of the things I do to fill my well is spend all my free time on creative little projects. I never took any classes for art or sewing or anything like that. I've learned some from Dannon {who has a degree in fine art} but I mostly just experiment and play around with paper and felt. I know so many people who think they are not creative because they are not "artsy" or don't have training in the arts, but that's just not true. We all have the ability to be creative because we were all children once. All kids have this amazing ability to play and experiment and color things the "wrong" colors and draw scribbles that mean something. Somewhere along the way we get discouraged and our inner critic develops. The critic tells us we are not creative.

Two really awesome books which are all about quieting the critic and breathing life into our inner child are:

1. The Artist's Way {a more serious, in-depth approach}2. Living Out Loud {a lighter, sillier approach}

Please don't be deterred by the first book's title. It is not a book for artists about art. It is a book for everyone about finding creativity even when you think you don't have any. Both of these books are great and I highly recommend them to people who want to explore creativity in their lives, whether it's for crafty/artsy things or just becoming better at finding creative solutions in life.

Another awesome idea is to think back to when you were between the ages of 4 and 10. What were your favorite things to do? Did you play with clay, swing, play pretend, color, look at picture books, play blocks, dolls, t-ball? Now how do you play as an adult? Do you still include your childhood favorites in your adult life? If not, take 15 min. out of your day or week and play like a little kid again. It may feel weird at first, but after you're done see how you feel. It's hard not to feel refreshed and energized after you've let loose and played like a kid!

Here's me and Dannon playing like a kid on the beach for one of my psychology grad school assignments:
And here we are playing in the woods:
And here we are playing in a candy store:
So this weekend take a little time and do something completely silly and completely ridiculous! Play like a little kid and have fun!

My Handwriting!

A Little Update!

This past weekend I was able to make some headway with my little felt creations.

First, I finally finished this macbook cover for which I was commissioned by a friend.Second, I did a little photo shoot for all my felt pins and coffee cozies. I also got started on setting up my etsy shop. It's not finished yet, but my goal is to have the grand opening sometime next week, so stay tuned for further updates. In the meantime, here's a little sampling of what you will find in my store:

EEEK!!!

That's how I feel right now... super outrageously excited! Why? Well, let me preface my reason by explaining that for the past 4 years Dannon has lived on Treasure Island. Sure there are perks of living on the teeny man-made island just off the San Francisco coast: free parking, best view of the city, a backyard, tailgating the TI Music Festival, super cheap rent {well, by San Francisco standards}. But the downsides are: there is nothing there except housing, it takes me 1.5 hours to get there by bus, and once you're on the island it takes a bit of an effort to get out and do things. So, because of this, Dannon and I only get to see each other on the weekends.

But! I'm super excited this morning because last night all that changed. Dannon officially moved into the city and right into my neighborhood!!! We now live 2 blocks apart in the most ridiculously awesome neighborhood in SF {well, you know, I'm totally biased}. Here are some moving in pics to his new cute green house:Life, and our relationship, will be wonderfully different now! We'll get to hang out during the week! And explore all the awesome neighborhood cafes and art galleries together! We'll get to ride our bikes through the park and randomly bump into each other in the grocery store!

His new home is beautiful too! It's an old victorian with gorgeous little details. Since Dannon is an interior designer, he'll be doing some fixing-up work to really show it's beauty. Here's a pic of his new adorable front living room:And this is how I feel now that Dannon will be a 3 minute walk from me:

Equilibrium at Langston Labs!

This weekend Dannon and I went to Equilibrium, an awesome Art + Science event.

There were amazing chocolate tastings by TCHO, San Francisco's only chocolate factory run by a former NASA scientist. It was yummy!Amazing art like these National Park TV Dinners {Death Valley, The Rocky Mountains, The Grand Canyon, and The Mississippi River, completely made out of real food}:

And Miracle Berry taste testing! Miracle Berry is a natural berry which changes the flavor of all other foods. After taking the Miracle Berry we ate potato chips, granny smith apples, lemons, pomegranate seeds, and drank balsamic vinaigrette, and tequila. Yup, sure enough, everything tasted like candy! It was amazing!It was such an amazing night which actually changed my life. During one of the science lectures I discovered I have synesthesia!!! I often hear and feel colors, see music, and personify numbers, letters, and colors. Sometimes I can physically feel what's happening to other people. And all numbers have a color as a part of their character, but when I see the number 2, it's always yellow. Always.
I totally thought everyone experienced this until I heard synesthesia explained. It blew my mind! 28 years and I'm still making discoveries about myself. I'm telling you, we are all unique and wonderfully made beings. If only we knew this when we were teenagers!

Happy Friday!

Today was the first rainy day of the season and it was wonderful! I worked on some sewing projects, sipped hot tea, and listened to my friend Aaron Roche's new Christmas album {I know it's early, but the album was just released and he's such a talented musician!}.
I've also been baking, which is one of my favorite things to do. Second Wind's fourth birthday is this weekend and I was asked to make one of the cakes representing year 3. I decided to try something new and bake this Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. It's always a little scary trying something new without taste testing it to make sure I didn't accidentally use salt instead of sugar, or something tragic like that. But I was extra careful and said a little blessing. Hopefully it will be amazing!
Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!